The One Next to Me
by Amity33
Summary: You can read this as a sequel to my 'Third Year Rumble' or as a stand-alone - take your pick. Let's see if Hanai and Mikoto can get their own happy ending...with a little help from their friends.


**Disclaimer: **The rights of the 'School Rumble' characters belong to Kobayashi Jin-sensei and their rightful copyright holders. I do not claim to own any of these characters. No profit is made out of this story.

**Author's Note: **I've been working on this story for a few months now, and I'm glad I could finish it in time for Christmas – consider it my present to all of you. Happy reading, and I always look forward to your reviews!

**THE ONE NEXT TO ME**

Hanai Haruki left the lecture hall and walked down the corridor towards the exit in his usual swift steps. He no longer wore a school uniform – hadn't worn one in four years now – but his attire was just as neat as back then: perfectly pressed and buttoned up suit and tie, as befitted a student of Tokyo University Law School, and a well-polished small leather briefcase in place of a school bag. With his conservative glasses and haircut on top of that, he might as well have 'role model law student' written on his forehead.

It wasn't just his appearance though, but his attitude as well; he walked in large strides, staring only ahead of him, without sparing even a glance for the students chattering in the corridor around him, male and female alike. He didn't really have anyone close to him among them anyway…while here, too, he was generally respected for his diligence and capability he didn't have an active leading role, like he had in his high school years. This was mostly because university classes were much looser than those of high school; even students of the same year were seldom together all the time since there was a variety of lesson subjects to choose from and attendance wasn't compulsory in all of them. Moreover, the students participated in the various university events such as the culture festival not by class but by means of their clubs or societies. Because of all those reasons, the only way one could become a leading figure in university was by joining a club or acquiring a wide circle of friends…and Hanai hadn't done either.

There were a few martial arts clubs and he had tried out a couple of them in his first year, but none of them was anywhere near his level; alas, law students weren't particularly good at martial arts as a rule, so instead he had chosen to enroll in a dojo near his boarding house to keep up with his training. As for the so-called 'cultural' clubs, from what he could gather their activities were more of an excuse for get-togethers and partying, and he had no wish to waste his time on such frivolous activities. And regarding making friends…well, Hanai had a lot of good qualities, but making friends easily wasn't one of them. When he was little he was actually very timid, not to mention rather weak physically; and this had resulted in him getting bullied and isolated. It was thanks to the perseverance and example of his childhood friend Suou Mikoto that he had found the courage to stand up for himself and the determination to become stronger, both mentally and physically. Thus he had been able to not only gradually get closer to his classmates during middle and high school, but also to set an example and become a beneficial influence on them; he had good reason to believe he had affected at least some of them positively, he thought. And he had also been able to live his high school life to the fullest, with no regrets except for the fact that he hadn't been able to find love.

But his fellow students here were adults, and so was he; and university life was quite different. It wasn't an entire class attending lessons and participating in events as a whole, but rather small groups of friends or club members who would hang out together. As he hadn't joined any clubs, Hanai's only option to be part of a group was to make friends; but he hadn't been all that successful. The only thing he had in common and could talk about with his fellow students was their studies, and that got old after a while; and what's more, Hanai was a tad too serious even for Tokyo University Law School. He didn't like to admit it, but it seemed that his seriousness rubbed others the wrong way, or maybe they got tired of it eventually…whichever the case, he didn't think there was anyone who genuinely liked spending time with him except for university-related reasons.

"Hanai-kun!" A girl's voice sounded behind him. Hanai turned around and saw Yuuki Tsumugi, the only one from his school year who had made it into Tokyo University as well and one of the few people in the university he spent time with occasionally. Tsumugi was studying to become a paralegal, so the two of them attended quite a few common classes in university; because of that and the fact that they were old classmates she often came to talk to him. They also went to study together in the library sometimes, especially when they had exams coming up. Hanai appreciated her company – Yuuki-kun was a kind and intelligent girl – but since he was always rather dense in matters of the heart he had never imagined she might have other reasons for seeking him out aside from being an old school friend.

"Yuuki-kun, are you done with your classes as well?" Hanai asked politely. "Yes," replied Tsumugi and then gathering her courage she added, "Um, do you have anything to do later, Hanai-kun? I'm going to the library to consult that new book on civil law; you know, the one Nakayama-sensei recommended to us the other day. Would you like to come as well? There are some points about the drafting of contracts I find kind of difficult, and I could use a bit of help."

"Ah…I'm sorry, but today's no good, Yuuki-kun," Hanai said a bit awkwardly; he felt bad for having to decline. "I have to go to the dojo after this; there's a former student of the master's coming today. He placed third in the nationals last year, and the master absolutely wants me to spar with him."

"Oh…if that's the case then I guess it can't be helped," Tsumugi said. She was evidently crestfallen, but Hanai didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. "Maybe we could go to the library sometime later this week…"

"Of course; let me know when you have the time, Yuuki-kun," answered Hanai. "I'll do anything in my power to help you with your studies. Well then, see you in class tomorrow." With a polite bow, Hanai turned around and headed towards the exit.

Tsumugi let out a deep sigh as she saw him vanish among the throngs of coming and going students. Yet another turn-down; how many was it these past few months? It was always like this lately; every time she'd rally all her courage to ask him out – usually to study, it was the most convenient pretext after all – but most of the time he said he had something else to do. And even when he did come along, he was rather aloof and distant; he wasn't like this in the past. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but Tsumugi who had known him since high school could tell. It was as if he'd built a wall around him and she had no way of getting past it.

She sighed again; yes, much as she hated to admit it, her efforts to get close to him didn't look like they would be rewarded any time soon. Of course, she had always been prepared for a difficult fight; ever since she had started liking him in high school, she had been fully aware that Hanai was not an easy target. His natural denseness when it came to romance notwithstanding, she also had to overcome quite a formidable competition.

There was Inaba Miki, their lively and straightforward kouhai who had decided, God alone knew why, that Hanai of all people was a good match for her; and she never missed an opportunity to flirt with him, much to Tsumugi's annoyance. Thankfully, though, Hanai had never seemed affected by her attentions; mostly he was merely embarrassed by her direct attacks. Then there was his childhood friend, Suou Mikoto, who was by all accounts a great girl: good-looking, athletic, spirited and kind-hearted. Granted, neither Mikoto nor Hanai had ever admitted to having any sort of romantic feelings towards one another; they never got tired of saying they were just 'childhood friends'. Mikoto had even dated someone else during their second year, Asou-kun, although their relationship did not last long. Still, she seemed to be closer to Hanai than any other girl, and Tsumugi could not help but envy their bond.

And then of course there was the biggest obstacle of them all: Tsukamoto Yakumo, Tenma's younger sister and the object of Hanai's passionate and unrequited love. Yakumo was the closest thing to a perfect woman: beautiful, well-mannered, good at studying, good at sports, good at housework, good at everything. It was inconceivable that she and her sister shared the same genes, Tsumugi often thought; although Tenma had a lot of good points as well, they just weren't that obvious. Anyway, it was no wonder that Hanai had fallen in love with her; and with his single-mindedness, it was also no wonder that he wouldn't give up on her, although she never showed any inclination to return his affection. The bottom line of all this was that Tsumugi had precious little to hope for with 'opponents' of this caliber.

And yet luck seemed to be on her side because most of the competition had gone away on its own, and her chances grew without her doing anything. Well, she did study her ass off to get into the same university as Hanai, so maybe the gods approved of her determination and decided to give her a helping hand. Whatever the reason, their graduation from high school brought about the elimination of two of the most powerful opponents. Miki, although she did like Hanai well enough, forgot about him rather easily when he was no longer around. Tsumugi had run into her friend Haruna and her brother Tougou Masakazu a couple of years ago; Tougou was studying engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology, still chasing his crazy dream to become a spaceship engineer one day and his sister had come to visit him. From her Tsumugi learnt that Miki had fallen for a guy she had met in college, a professional hip-hop performer of all things. Admittedly this was quite a change from the serious Hanai, but then again this girl had always been spontaneous and somewhat unpredictable. Anyway, according to Haruna they were dating for a year now and seemed to get along very well, so from the looks of it Miki had moved on and was no longer in the picture.

But the most important event in her favor happened shortly before their graduation from high school, when Yakumo finally got a boyfriend. Until then she had never been involved with anyone, although she had received more confessions than any other girl in school. There were rumors from time to time that she was going out with Harima, their class' resident delinquent, but as it turned out they were just that: rumors. Then suddenly towards the end of their third year out of nowhere Yakumo started dating a boy from her class, a quiet guy none of them had noticed until then. Nobody could say for sure what had made her choose him out of all her suitors, but the fact remained that any hopes Hanai had for his feelings to get through to her had been crushed for good. Because not only did Yakumo get a boyfriend, but soon afterwards she decided to move to America in order to be close to her sister and left Japan with said boyfriend, leaving Hanai as brokenhearted as he could ever be.

So after having successfully got into the same university as him and with two major rivals out of the way, Tsumugi had every reason to believe she might have a chance with him after all. There was still Mikoto who was also going to college in Tokyo and had a room in the same boarding house as Hanai (an arrangement made by their families), but as far as Tsumugi could tell neither of them had any intention of changing their 'childhood friend' status. And after all, she had the advantage of going to the same university and attending quite a few classes together with him. Hanai had never guessed of course, but she had chosen to become a paralegal in order to be close to him, although fortunately as it turned out she liked this career well enough and would not regret having chosen it, regardless whether her efforts with Hanai paid off or not.

Tsumugi had decided that if there was ever a good time to seriously go after Hanai it was now; she could not hope for more favorable circumstances. Therefore she fought back her shyness and started putting in more of an effort to get him. She began wearing more stylish clothes (nothing too flashy of course, she was too timid for that), abandoned her high school braids and started wearing her hair down; the only thing she could not change was her glasses, since her eyes were irritated by contact lenses. And she mustered all her courage to find ways to keep in touch with him; she sat next to him in class when they had common subjects, asked him to borrow his notes or invited him to study together, anything she could do to make him notice her. She had planned to close the distance between them little by little, and when the time seemed right she would confess to him.

But the time never seemed to be right; or more like, Hanai never seemed to notice her any more than he did in high school. He was always gallant to her and Tsumugi believed he considered her to be a nice, hard-working girl; but he didn't see her as a woman at all. It wasn't just her, though; from the looks of it, he didn't have eyes for any woman. It didn't take her long to figure out why: he hadn't got over Yakumo yet. It was to be expected, seeing as he had loved her so much; but as time wore on and he showed no signs of getting over his crush, Tsumugi started to get worried. Even someone as persistent as he was at some point should decide to give up and move on, right? But of course she couldn't tell him that, so she did the only think she could: she stayed as close to him as possible in the hope that one day he'd finally get over his heartbreak and start noticing other women. And when that happened, she hoped that she would be the one he noticed first.

Indeed, about a year ago there was a change, but not on his part. Mikoto, who until then had been living in the same boarding house as him, suddenly decided to move out. Tsumugi wasn't sure why she had made this decision; Hanai said something about her wanting to live nearer to her new part-time job, but Tsumugi wondered whether this was the truth or just an excuse. In any case, at first she thought this was a good thing; Mikoto didn't go to the same school as them, and now that she and Hanai no longer lived near each other she'd have very little contact with him. In other words, this just might be the opportunity Tsumugi was waiting for all this time to finally be closer to Hanai than any other girl.

But instead of getting closer, they grew further apart; at least Hanai did. Not just with her, with everyone; he was never the life of the party to begin with, but now he had become more unsociable than ever. He didn't treat anyone rudely, but he had withdrawn to himself; he spent practically all of his time studying and training and rarely met with anyone outside of class or practice. Tsumugi had started looking for him not only to get close to him, but because she was worried about him; shutting everyone out like this could not possibly be good for him in the long run. She wondered if something had happened between him and Mikoto to have made him like this, but there was no way of finding out. She had no contact with Mikoto or her close friends Eri and Akira, and even if she did it was unlikely they'd tell her about it. She had tried questioning Hanai discreetly but he hadn't admitted to anything being wrong between the two of them. But since something obviously _was_ wrong, this meant Hanai did not feel close enough to her to share his troubles with her…and frankly, after all the effort she'd put in, that was rather discouraging. She had seriously begun to doubt whether she could break through Hanai's wall of isolation…maybe she didn't have what it took to cure him of his loneliness…maybe it wasn't her he needed right now. But even so, she wasn't sure she wanted to give up just yet…

"Earth to Tsumugi-chan! Can you hear me, Tsumugi-chan?" Surprised, Tsumugi turned around to see Takigawa Maiko, a girl she had become friends with here at the university. Tsumugi liked Maiko because she was a lot like her best friend in high school, Sagano Megumi: friendly and with a cheerful disposition, it was rare to see her angry or down. She and another girl, Kanemura Nanami, had become friends with Tsumugi since their first year at the university and always got along well. Tsumugi still missed Megumi and Ichijou Karen, her old high school friends who unfortunately were studying in other provinces, but she was grateful that she had managed to make some good friends here as well.

"What's the matter, Tsumugi-chan, why the long face?" Maiko asked with concern, noting Tsumugi's sad expression. A moment later she sighed and nodded in understanding. "Let me guess; you got turned down by Hanai-kun again, didn't you?"

Tsumugi nodded, a bit relieved that she had someone to share her love troubles with. Maiko and Nanami knew all about her and Hanai; a few months after they became acquainted in a moment of weakness she had told her two new friends about her crush and since then they were always willing to listen to her troubles. At first Maiko and Nanami had been very supportive, since Hanai-kun was such a nice person and had all the makings of a good husband. But as the years passed and there didn't seem to be any progress in their friend's one-sided love, they, too, had started to doubt whether Tsumugi-chan should continue to pursue what appeared to be a hopeless cause. If Hanai-kun hadn't gotten over his old love after so long, he might never get over it; and they didn't want to see their friend get dragged down along with him. If he wanted to stay single all his life pining for some girl that was his problem, but there was no reason for Tsumugi-chan to wind up an old maid as well. Now that they were close to finishing university, perhaps it would be best for her to start getting around more and meeting other men too. There were quite a few of them out there after all; Tsumugi-chan might find someone just as good as Hanai-kun, and less stubborn.

"He said he had something to do again today," Tsumugi explained, ignorant of her friend's thoughts. "Maybe I'll ask him again later this week…I'm hesitating though, he seems so down these days it's hard to even talk to him."

"Really? I didn't notice anything off about him, but then I don't know him as well as you do," Maiko said. "Do you think it has something to do with his old crush?"

"Could be…I don't think he's ever forgotten about her," Tsumugi said thoughtfully.

"Not after four years? Heavens, I've seen persistent guys before but this is ridiculous," Maiko said incredulously. "What is he planning to do, stay a bachelor all his life? What good would that do?"

"Honestly, Maiko-chan, I've no idea," Tsumugi sighed wearily. Maiko looked at her compassionately for a few seconds, then her face lit up again. "Well, it's not all bad," she said cheerfully. "Since you don't have any plans for the evening, that means you're free to come to the goukon with us!"

"What goukon? You never said anything about a goukon!" Tsumugi exclaimed. "Of course we didn't, because we didn't want you to try and wriggle your way out of it again," Maiko said with a mischievous grin. "Nanami-chan set it up; it's with some graduates from the law department. Since we're paralegals we're sure to have a lot to talk about with them, and Nanami-chan says they're really nice guys." She paused for a second and went on more seriously, "Listen, Tsumugi-chan…I'm not telling you to give up on Hanai-kun, but maybe it's not a bad idea to keep your options open. There are other men besides him, you know…there may be someone out there who suits you more. And besides, Hanai-kun may not want to find another girl ever, but do _you_ want to be alone all your life as well?"

Tsumugi sighed once again. She liked Hanai a lot, more than anyone she had met so far…but staying single all her life to wait for him…she wasn't confident she had the willpower for that. If only he encouraged her, even a little bit…but these days it felt more like he was pushing her away instead, and she was getting more and more disappointed every time she met him.

"All right, I'll come to the goukon," she finally said, and her friend's eyes sparkled excitedly. "But let me tell you in advance that I'm not going to force myself to like anyone of these guys, okay?"

"Nobody's asking you to do that, Tsumugi-chan," Maiko said joyfully. "Come along now, we're going to your apartment to pick out your outfit and do your hair and makeup. I want you to look your best tonight!"

Tsumugi sighed in resignation this time and allowed her friend to drag her off to her apartment. She had no idea where would this decision lead her, but…like Maiko had said, it didn't hurt to keep her options open.

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Having left the campus, Hanai walked towards the train station to catch a train to his boarding house. He still felt a little bad for having turned down Yuuki-kun like this. Technically he hadn't lied to her, there really was a guest he had promised to spar with at the dojo, but the match was actually scheduled for the evening. He could spare a couple of hours to go to the library with her…but he didn't feel like it. For some time now he wasn't in the mood to hang out with anyone – not that there were that many people he could hang out with in the first place, but even those few who occasionally spent time with him he didn't feel like seeing lately. He told himself it was because he was too busy with his studies and everything, but deep down he knew this was just an excuse.

He had started sinking in this depressed state about a year ago, when Mikoto had moved to another apartment and he stopped seeing her. He didn't want to admit this was the reason for his dejection; sure, he and Mikoto were close friends, but he had no reason to be down in the dumps just because his childhood friend had moved house! At first he had thought he was sad because he no longer saw her every evening at the boarding house; until then, they'd meet almost every night, even when their schedules were opposite, and exchange their news, if only for a few minutes. These meetings had become part of his daily routine and of course he'd be unsettled when they suddenly stopped, he reckoned. But it wasn't just that…what nagged him the most was why Mikoto had decided to move away all of a sudden. He didn't believe it was just to be nearer to her part-time job…after all, all these years she had never complained about having to commute to school or her part-time jobs even once. The thing was, he couldn't even ask her about it, because without realizing it they had come to a point where he couldn't ask her anything.

When was it that the two of them who used to be so close, started growing apart? At first when they had moved in this boarding house, they were best friends just like they were in high school. They'd meet at the house's shared kitchen to cook together and talk about their day, they'd go to the dojo together to train, sometimes Mikoto would come to his room when she needed help with her studies or when she didn't have anything else to do. He welcomed her company, it was always so easy to talk to her about anything and she understood him so well; no one knew him as well as she did. And he truly needed someone to talk to that time; he was still hurting a whole lot after having lost all hope with Yakumo before he even had a chance to confess to her. He never let his pain show to outsiders and he never allowed himself to neglect his studies even in the slightest because of this; but with Mikoto he didn't have to keep his guard up. He would talk to her about everything, his feelings for Yakumo, his grief for never having been noticed by her, about how much she still meant to him…all those things he hid from everyone else around him, bottled up inside himself. Just having her listen to his sorrows was a great comfort for him and he was genuinely grateful to her for it.

But even though talking things over with her helped ease his pain a little, he still couldn't find it in himself to forget and move on. He was stuck in the past, unable to snap out of his dejection; and what's more, he simply could not get interested in other women. No woman he had met could so much as hold a candle to Yakumo; she was just too perfect, he would never find anyone like her. And so, although he had no reason to hope for a second chance with her, he could not get her out of his head; and therefore, he was completely indifferent towards other women. He did care about Mikoto but of course that was just as a childhood friend, nothing more. And little by little he became convinced he would never love another woman again. When sometimes Mikoto suggested discreetly that maybe he shouldn't view this so pessimistically he would off-handedly dismiss the thought, and more than once he had declared to her that he just couldn't imagine himself with any other woman apart from Yakumo.

Then things slowly started changing between them; so slowly in fact that it was quite some time before Hanai noticed that anything was amiss, preoccupied with his grief as he was. First their schedules became tougher and they couldn't spare the time to hang out together for long; then Mikoto got a new part-time job and could no longer train with him at the dojo; eventually they only got to see each other for no more than a few minutes every evening, when they both returned to the boarding house. Naturally, that wasn't nearly enough time for their previous long talks; they barely managed to exchange their news of the day. Hanai wasn't very happy about this, but since it was because of school and work he felt he had no right to complain; so he never said anything, although he started to get the feeling that Mikoto was slowly but surely distancing herself from him. But he believed this was just his imagination, that he was getting these ideas because he missed their time together; besides, what reason could Mikoto have to start avoiding her best friend? They hadn't had a falling out, or even a misunderstanding…why would she suddenly become averse to spending time with him? Their time together had decreased because of their obligations, that was all there was to it; and it would be terribly selfish of him to make demands on Mikoto's time, their duties should always come first. He used such moralistic affirmations on a regular basis to make himself feel better, but he just couldn't get rid of this nagging feeling he had that something was very wrong. And his worries were confirmed about a year ago, when Mikoto upped and left without any warning.

It wasn't like she vanished into thin air; she had given him her new address and phone number, but she made it sound like he wasn't welcome to visit whenever. In any case, her new home was quite far and it wasn't easy for him to visit, especially now when he was in his final year in Law School and his studies required more time than ever. He called her every now and then but half the time she wasn't home; and even when she was she usually had something to do and could not spare the time to talk. Gradually the phone calls became less and less frequent; come to think of it, it was more than a month now that he hadn't heard from her.

Hanai had never been much of a people person, except perhaps during his high school years; but even then, despite his active participation in school events it wasn't easy for him to connect with others. Therefore he believed that solitude was nothing new to him; but only now that Mikoto had left did he realize what it meant to be truly alone. He had always been aware that he depended on her support, but he hadn't understood how much until now, when she was no longer around. Without her, his darkest thoughts and feelings had raised their ugly head again; and each day it was becoming more and more difficult to fight back the depression threatening to devour him. He forced himself to focus on his studies and push the discouraging thoughts away, but he was seriously starting to believe he would never find true happiness and he was doomed to stay alone for the rest of his life.

He shook his head vigorously in an attempt to dispel his gloomy mood and picked up his pace, walking quickly through the busy streets. Since he had declined Yuuki-kun's invitation to the library, he'd return to his apartment and study for a few hours until it was time to go to the dojo for the match; hopefully the exercise would clear his mind and improve his disposition at least a little. But as he took a turn towards the avenue leading to the station, a voice he hadn't heard in four years sounded behind him.

"Four-eyes, is that you?"

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Hanai didn't even need to turn around to know who was calling him. There was only one person of his acquaintance who called him 'four-eyes' – Harima Kenji, his old classmate who, strangely enough, happened to be the man Hanai respected the most – and also despised the most.

Actually he wasn't sure whether he still despised him after all these years, but back in the day he certainly did. Hanai and Harima were polar opposites – if Hanai was the embodiment of the model student, Harima was the archetypal delinquent; wild, disobedient, fiercely independent – never doing anything because he 'had' to, only because he 'wanted' to. When Hanai started getting to know him during their second year (before that Harima was practically a dropout, he almost never showed his face in school) he was immediately convinced this guy was nothing but bad news; someone who didn't give a damn about others and what trouble he might cause for them in order to get his way. But as they locked horns time and again, slowly he started becoming aware of Harima's good qualities. It wasn't just that his strength was on par with his own; physical strength alone would not have been enough to earn his respect. But there was more than that; sure, the guy wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was no empty-headed brawler either. He was a hard worker when he had motivation, and he kept his word; it wasn't easy to get him to commit to something but when he did commit he gave it his all, like Hanai did. It was mostly this mental fortitude of his which had earned Hanai's grudging respect after a while; but of course this didn't mean they still didn't have differences, and seeing as they both were stubborn to the point of pigheaded they were almost never on good terms. Most of the time they were antagonizing rather than friendly, but it wasn't just their competitiveness fueling their animosity. The biggest thorn in their relationship was, naturally, Harima's close connection with Yakumo.

Hanai had never been able to get Yakumo to open up to him, but before Harima appeared in their lives neither had any other guy; so he believed it was just a matter of perseverance on his part to gain her trust. But then this delinquent shows up and Yakumo-kun starts getting all friendly and cozy with him just like that right off the bat, even though he was the definition of untrustworthy! His jealousy aside, what drove Hanai nuts was the unfairness of it all. He was diligent, upstanding, honest and unwaveringly faithful – he had never so much as looked at another woman after he met Yakumo – whereas Harima was all over the place, slacking off half the time, unheeding of manners or propriety, not to mention there were always rumors flying around about him hooking up with some girl or other. Why would a well-bred, modest girl like Yakumo-kun trust a guy like him over a decent guy like Hanai? Couldn't she see that such a rotten fellow would only make her miserable? On the other hand, Hanai couldn't be sure whether there was really something going on between them – when he had asked him during this survival game they had played at school, Harima had explicitly told him that Yakumo wasn't the girl he loved. Still, he could not help having doubts when he saw how well they got along, not to mention he was envious of Harima who had gained Yakumo's friendship so easily while he couldn't even get two words together out of her when they met. Plus even if they were just friends now, this didn't mean something couldn't happen between them later on – Yakumo-kun was such a beautiful and gifted girl and so many men had fallen in love with her, why not Harima as well? And if it was him, she might accept his feelings and then – Hanai really didn't want to think what would happen then. It was only at the end of their second year when he realized why there was no danger for Harima to fall for Yakumo: because all this time he'd been in love with her elder sister, the kindly but clumsy Tenma. Unfortunately just when he realized this, Tenma took off for America and Harima lost all hope for her; which essentially meant that all bets were off once more and the game would begin anew.

And now things looked bleaker than ever, because not only did Harima work with Yakumo on a regular basis on account of his manga, but he moved in with her and her best friend Sarah as well. Even if it wasn't just the two of them in the house, a guy and a girl living together and nothing happening between them, how impossible was that? Of course technically Harima wasn't single, since he had got engaged to Sawachika Eri, Mikoto's best friend and one of the prettiest girls in school – how did this good-for-nothing manage to get the pick of the litter all the time, it was beyond Hanai's comprehension. Sawachika-kun was also very attractive and rich to boot, although she wasn't really Hanai's type – too hot-tempered and sharp-tongued for his taste, even if he had ever been inclined to notice other girls besides Yakumo, which he hadn't. In any case, she and Harima didn't seem to be truly in love; in fact all they did was argue and snap at each other. Because of that no one believed their engagement was real; most of their classmates, including Hanai, had concluded it was just an arrangement of convenience between them. And if the engagement wasn't real, it meant Harima was free to pursue any girl he wanted, and no matter how Hanai looked at it, there was always a chance he would set his sights on Yakumo now that he didn't have his love for her sister to hold him back. And with both of them living in the same house and Yakumo being well-disposed towards him as she was…Hanai certainly had good cause to worry about what might happen between them.

But as it turned out, he could not have been more wrong. Nothing ever happened between them; and what's more, while he was wasting his time obsessing over Harima some boy from Yakumo's class became friends with her and eventually won her affections, all the while without Hanai noticing anything. From what little Hanai knew about him he was a good guy, so he could not find fault with Yakumo-kun's choice – but of course his heart was no less broken for that. Anyhow, from the looks of it he had misjudged Harima completely; he and Yakumo did care a lot about each other but it was nothing more than a brotherly affection between them. On the other hand, his engagement with Sawachika-kun turned out to be real enough, since after their graduation from high school and Yakumo's departure for America the two of them moved in together and to the best of his knowledge they were still together after four years.

Hanai hadn't met with either of them since graduation, but Mikoto hanged out with them often enough; she and Eri were still best friends and moreover they attended the same college together with their other friend, the smart and mysterious Takano Akira. From her Hanai had learnt that Harima was attending an arts course at a low-level college while at the same time working as a mangaka; he had won another award a couple of years ago, and was generally regarded as a promising young talent. Eri was studying design and economics because she was aiming to be a fashion designer and hopefully open her own brand later on, while Akira attended a variety of courses, ranging from math to history, but Mikoto had no clue exactly what she planned to do after college. Mikoto herself had chosen a secretarial course, thinking that even if she couldn't land a job in Tokyo she could always go back home and work in her family's construction company. But although they all attended different courses they met up regularly, most of the time outside or at Eri and Harima's place which had the most space. Back when they were on better terms Mikoto had occasionally invited Hanai along as well, but as luck would have it he had never been able to join them; he always happened to have other obligations, albeit not on purpose. He often wondered what Harima thought of him now, though…he felt quite guilty after having misunderstood him so badly, and frankly he wouldn't be surprised if the fellow would want nothing to do with him.

But Harima didn't seem to be holding any grudges, seeing as he advanced towards him without hesitation the moment Hanai turned around and he saw it was indeed him. "How're you doing, man, it's been ages!" he said good-naturedly, grabbing Hanai's hand and wringing it in a friendly manner. Hanai mechanically reciprocated the handshake; it occurred to him that Harima somehow looked different than four years ago, but he could not pinpoint the difference. Physically he hadn't changed much; from what Hanai could see he was still fit as a fiddle, and his face was pretty much the same; he even sported the same goatee which had earned him the nickname 'Hige' back then. He hadn't changed his hairstyle either; he still had his hair pulled back with a headband, only it was longer now, reaching down to his shoulders. As the clothes he was wearing happened to look a lot like his high school uniform – black denims and a short-sleeved off-white shirt – for a second Hanai thought he saw a vision from the past. He even had sunglasses on, like the ones he wore all through second year before abandoning them when Tenma left. But even though he looked almost exactly like his old self he also seemed fundamentally different. At first Hanai could not tell why he had this impression, when suddenly it hit him: Harima was _smiling_ at him. Come to think of it, he had never seen him smile when they were in high school; he always looked moody or angry. His expressions had started getting a bit softer sometime during their third year, but Hanai could never recall seeing him in a truly good mood even once. Now, however, that permanent frown he used to have on his face was gone; he no longer looked like the entire world was his enemy, and without that expression he wasn't nearly as scary and intimidating as he was before.

"So, what brings you around these parts?" Harima was asking, oblivious of Hanai's thoughts. "Well…I was on my way home after class," replied Hanai, still a little taken aback by this unexpected meeting. "Right, Tokyo University's nearby, I totally forgot," Harima said. "My publishing company has a branch office over there," he pointed at somewhere behind him, "but I don't come here often, I only came today because I had to go to a meeting with some of the company's bigwigs. Bored me to death, too; those old crones just love jabbering." He paused for a second and then went on to ask, "So, anyway, since you're free how about we go grab a cup of coffee or something? I got some time too right now…it's a good chance to catch up. You've totally fallen off the face of the earth ever since we finished high school."

"Actually I have some studying to do…" Hanai started saying, but Harima would have none of it. "No way dude, don't be so cold; surely you can spare a little time for an old school friend, right? Besides, it's not like your grades will drop if you study an hour less." Without waiting for an answer he grabbed Hanai by the shoulder and dragged him along to a family restaurant further down the street, while the latter was wondering exactly when he and Harima had become such good buddies without his knowledge.

A few minutes later they were sitting at a table inside the restaurant, with two cups of coffee in front of them. "How's it going with the studies then?" Harima asked him after taking his sunglasses off and putting them in his shirt's breast pocket – apparently now he didn't find it necessary to wear them indoors too like he did in high school. "You're in your fourth year already, so I'm guessing you're going to start looking for work soon…?"

"Oh, not even close," Hanai said. "It's true I'm in my last year in Law School, but after that I have to do another two-year postgraduate course before I'm allowed to sit for the Bar exam. And after that I still have to do another year of apprenticeship in the Supreme Court before I can actually practice."

"And then will you join some company or open your own office?" Harima asked him. "Actually I'm trying to get enough qualifications to apply for a prosecutor's position after my apprenticeship," answered Hanai. "It's not easy to get selected, but I believe it suits me best so I'm going to give it my all."

"With your brains, I'm sure you can do it," Harima said genially. "Wow, I can't believe you'll be putting bad guys away, just like you said in high school…good thing I'm an upstanding citizen now," he carried on with a laugh, and Hanai couldn't help smiling a little as well. "But man, I don't get how you can study so much…when I finished my course I thought I was in heaven just because I'd never have to study again."

"So you've graduated from college already?" Hanai asked in turn. "Yeah, it was a three-year course, so I finished last year," replied Harima. "Not that I'm less busy now, mind you, I'm swamped with work this year. I've started a second manga and it's a completely different style from my first one; the readers seem to like it so far, but it's darn hard to draw two different stories at the same time. It's a good challenge so I'm not complaining, but it's busy as hell these days. If Ojou and I didn't live in the same house we'd never get to see each other, what with all the hours we have to put in."

"Sawachika-kun is working as well? I thought she was still in college," Hanai said. "She is, but she found a full-time job last summer; she said it's a great opportunity for her career," Harima explained. "She's working at the atelier of some pansy designer fellow; apparently he's a rising star in fashion or something. I'd never heard of him before, but then I don't know the first thing about clothes and such. Anyway, now she's both working full-time and studying, and you know I'm kind of worried it's too hard on her. It's good she likes her new job so much, but – "

"Excuse me ~ " Surprised by the sudden interruption, the two young men turned their heads and saw a girl in a low-cut blouse and short skirt standing next to their table. She was rather pretty, with dyed brown and slightly curled hair and a cutesy attitude. Behind her stood another girl, more plainly dressed – evidently her friend.

"We were wondering if you and your friend would like to join us for a drink…maybe we could get to know each other better ~ " the girl went on, smiling sweetly at Harima. Hanai blushed with embarrassment as he realized they were being hit on. Lately he'd had to deal with this kind of thing quite a few times – for some reason women had started coming on to him more often and more blatantly than in the past, and that was another reason for him to avoid public places these days. He wasn't sure why this sudden rise in popularity, although he suspected it was because he gave off the impression of an elite student and consequently a future successful man – scary how women could tell these things from a mile away. Apparently Harima had the same problem as well – he didn't look anything like an elite student but he was a very handsome man, all the more now that he wasn't glaring all the time. In any case, situations like this one invariably made Hanai extremely uncomfortable. He had never felt inclined to accept such invitations, but he didn't know how to reject them without appearing cruel. He understood it was best to be direct, but it was difficult to find the right words to –

"Not interested," Harima said flatly and pointedly turned away from her. Hanai was a bit shocked by this blunt rejection – Harima had done the right thing to turn that girl down since he was in a relationship and all, but surely he could have done it more gently? The girl wasn't discouraged by his rudeness though; evidently she was a persistent one. "Aw, don't be like that," she coaxed him again with the same charming smile. "I'm sure we can have a really good time together…"

A glint of his old anger showed in Harima's eyes again and he whisked sharply towards her, his long black hair swishing like whipcords. "Listen, lady," he said harshly, "I'm engaged to a girl about a hundred times prettier than you, so why don't you do us a favor and take a hike already." With that he turned towards Hanai again, completely ignoring the girl whose eyes started welling up. A sob escaped her but Harima remained unmoved; then finally she gave up and hugged her friend for comfort, sniffling. "Come on, Rika-chan, that bully's not worth it," her friend said and led her away, not however without throwing a venomous glance at them.

Hanai shifted awkwardly in his chair, still rather appalled by the way Harima had handled this whole affair. "That was a bit uncalled for, Harima-kun," he said with a hint of reproach. "I believe you really hurt that girl's feelings."

"Hey, if Ojou ever thinks I'm cheating on her it won't be just my feelings getting hurt," Harima said matter-of-factly. Then his face turned more serious and in a soft and a little sentimental tone he added, "But you know, what I'm scared of the most is seeing _her_ hurt."

"You…really care a lot about Sawachika-kun," remarked Hanai, impressed by the emotion coloring Harima's voice. "What can I say, when I fall, I fall hard," Harima said with a sheepish smile. "But she's worth it, you know; I'd never have guessed when I first met her, what with the way we fought all the time, but we're perfect for each other. Actually, between ourselves…" he leaned over the table and dropped his voice confidentially, "now that we both have more or less stable jobs, when she graduates next spring we're thinking of tying the knot for good." A warm, happy glow spread over his features as he said that, and it was then that Hanai realized it was love which had brought about all those changes in him.

"Well, you have been together for a long time, so if you think you're ready for it…" he said, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we are…I mean, we've lived together for four years, I think we'd know by now if we didn't get along," Harima said. "Believe me, when you live with someone day in day out, sooner or later you'll know whether you're meant to be together or not. To be honest, when we first moved in together I wasn't sure it'd work out, because Ojou wasn't used to this kind of life at all…I was afraid it'd be too much for her. But she's pretty amazing, you know; even though she never had to lift a finger to do anything before, she learnt all about housework and such in no time. Now she's even better at it than me…well, she still can't cook to save her life, but hey, nobody's perfect. Besides, I've become pretty good at cooking myself, so it all works out anyway."

"It's good you learnt how to cook – even men should know that in this day and age," Hanai said, nodding approvingly. "And it's handy when you live on your own too…it helps you save money and eat healthy at the same time. Moving here would have been much harder for me if I couldn't cook for myself."

"That's right, you know how to cook too…maybe you could give me pointers sometime," Harima said. "I remember you were damned good at it…that lunch you made me back when we went to the beach in second year was really something."

Hanai frowned distastefully; the way Harima had said it, it sounded like he had made that lunch just for him, when in truth it wasn't even meant for him in the first place. "I didn't make it for the likes of you, you know," he said tersely. "I thought Yakumo-kun was coming that time, and I made it with her in mind."

The moment Yakumo's name was uttered, an awkward silence fell between them. Hanai recalled again all those misunderstandings which had happened between them on Yakumo's account…how pointless they were after all. Yakumo hadn't chosen either of them, and now she was far away…far out of reach. But it was true that she and Harima were close, even if they didn't love each other…and maybe they were still close…

"Say…you and Yakumo-kun…do you still keep in touch?" he ventured to ask, with no little difficulty though. It was hard for him to ask Harima about Yakumo, not to mention awkward…but if he could learn even a little something about her and how she was doing over there…

Harima stared into his eyes silently for one long minute before nodding affirmatively. "Yeah…phone calls are expensive, but we write each other letters regularly," he finally said. "I got one from her about ten days ago."

"And…is she doing well in America? Is she happy?" Hanai asked again. He tried to sound nonchalant, but he was pretty sure he hadn't done a very good job of it.

Harima stared hard at him, with a somewhat annoyed look in his dark eyes. "Yes," he said firmly. "Imouto-san's doing just fine…both with her studies and her _boyfriend,_" deliberately putting emphasis on the last word.

"I see," Hanai whispered almost inaudibly, looking down at his cup of coffee. Harima kept staring at him, the look in his eyes a bit softer now; although he couldn't see Hanai's face, his whole stance gave away how much pain he was in. Still in pain, after all this time…Harima let him be for a few moments, then he leaned towards him and asked in a gentler tone, "Four-eyes…it's been four years already…don't you think it's time to let go?"

"It's not that easy," Hanai said in a hollow voice, still looking down at his cup. "You don't understand."

"I of all people _do_ understand," Harima said sharply, with that irritated look in his eyes again. "I've been through the exact same shit, remember? And I didn't want to give up until the very end either; but there are some things you just can't win against, no matter how strong you are. If I hadn't realized that and moved on I would only ruin my life, and the same's going to happen to you too, you know that. You're way too smart not to understand it."

"Even so, it doesn't mean I can help my feelings," countered Hanai impatiently. "And our situations are hardly the same, you know. You had Sawachika-kun…I don't have anyone like that."

"You don't?" Harima asked, giving him a piercing look. "What about Suou?"

"What about her?" Hanai asked back, raising his head to look at him. "Suou and I are just childhood friends…we don't feel that way about each other."

"Really now," Harima said drily, the vexed look in his eyes becoming more prominent by the second. He leaned over the table again and said in a low voice, staring intensely at Hanai, "Then ask yourself this, four-eyes…if some other guy were to shove it inside your childhood friend, how would you feel about it?"

Hanai was totally unprepared for the searing hot wave of fury which swept through him as soon as he heard those words. He completely forgot where he was or how he was supposed to behave; all he saw was red. Without even realizing it he lunged out and grabbed Harima by his shirtfront, pulling him close to his face. Harima was neither small nor weak, and yet Hanai had dragged him halfway across the table in a second, coffee cups and water glasses getting knocked over and rolling away in a clatter all around them – good thing they were plastic, or the situation would be not only messy but dangerous as well. "What did you say?!" he cried out with blazing eyes, his other hand raised and ready to strike.

Contrary to his past habits, Harima did not get angry; or if he did, he didn't let it show. Cool as a cucumber, he disengaged his shirt from Hanai's fingers and sat back again, at the same time waving away the waitress who had rushed over, alarmed by the ruckus. "Chill out, man, I'm engaged and very much in love, remember?" he said calmly; disarmed by his composure, Hanai sat back as well and looked down again, ashamed of his violent outburst. Without appearing to notice his embarrassment Harima leaned in again and added gravely, "But there are loads of single guys out there, and Suou's a rare good girl. Did you know she went to a goukon last weekend?"

"Who told you that?" Hanai asked, more sharply than he ought to. He understood he wasn't behaving very properly right now, but he couldn't help himself; somehow the fact that other people knew things about Mikoto he ignored struck him as exceedingly annoying.

"Ojou, who else?" Harima said, once more disregarding Hanai's rudeness completely. "Apparently some girls from Suou's class were pestering her to go, and in the end she agreed to it. No, don't worry," he hastened to add, "she didn't hook up with anyone – this time. But there'll be other times too, and then she might find someone she'll like well enough to take home…and it won't be just to hold hands. Think about it." He looked around and spotted the waitress, gesturing at her to bring the check over. "Anyway, I've kept you from your studying long enough, and I'd better get going as well…it's getting late, and I have to make dinner too," he said. "It was good to see you again, so don't be such a stranger from now on. Although I guess we'll meet again in two weeks' time either way."

"Why, what's in two weeks' time?" Hanai asked, puzzled. Harima gave him an astonished look. "Suou's birthday, of course," he said, considerably surprised. "Don't tell me you forgot?"

"Of course not," Hanai said irritably; there was no way he'd ever forget Mikoto's birthday. "But Suou doesn't like going out of her way to celebrate her birthday, so why…?"

"Oh, she'll celebrate it big time this year whether she likes it or not," Harima said with a knowing smile. "Ojou and Takano are planning to throw her a big party at her parents' house. They're going to invite all her friends who live near enough to come, so I suppose you'll get your invitation too any day now. But they're keeping it a secret from her until the last moment, so make sure you don't spill anything, okay?"

"Okay," Hanai nodded in agreement and soon afterwards they left the restaurant and parted ways at the train station. Hanai went home and tried to resume his studying, but for once he found it completely impossible to concentrate on his law books. Disheartened, he picked up his gym sack and headed out for the dojo, fearing very much that he wouldn't get any studying to speak of done during the following two weeks.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

Just as Hanai feared, the next two weeks were nothing short of tortuous for him. Never in his life had he felt such frustration; training at the dojo would appease it temporarily (much to the chagrin of the unfortunate fellows who happened to be his sparring partners) but as soon as his training sessions were finished it built up all over again. He tried his hardest to calm his internal turmoil and focus on his studies, but try as he might his mind kept wandering back to Mikoto and her upcoming birthday party.

Like Harima had said, a few days after their meeting Akira contacted Hanai to give him his invitation. Actually it wasn't so much an invitation as it was a thinly-veiled threat that if he didn't show up she'd make sure he would regret it until the end of his days. Hanai wasn't sure why would Takano-kun go to such lengths to make sure he'd be there, but she might as well have saved her breath; he had already decided that, short of his own demise, nothing would keep him from attending that party.

After his encounter with Harima that conversation they had kept replaying over and over in his head, and he found it completely impossible to get his mind off it. He simply could not dismiss what Harima had said about Mikoto and her potential relations with men; his way of putting it was rather vulgar, but very much to the point. Mikoto wasn't just Hanai's childhood friend; she was also a woman, and a great one at that. Despite her tomboyish nature she was very pretty and attractive, and she had a heart of gold. Of course there would be men out there who would see and appreciate her charms…who would long for her as a woman. And the thought that she might one day like one of them back, and be with him as a couple…somehow it did not sit well with Hanai at all.

It wasn't always like this though…back in high school he was positive that he wanted Mikoto to find someone to love, just as he loved Yakumo…that he wanted to see her happy at a good man's side who would love and cherish her. It was for this reason, after all, that he had pushed her to start dating Asou in their second year. Before that he hadn't done anything because he knew Mikoto had a crush on her old home tutor and so she wouldn't think of other guys – Mikoto thought he had no idea about it but he'd known right from the start, for he knew her too well not to notice. He hadn't said anything because she wasn't the type who liked to talk about her love troubles and he respected that, so he simply supported her as a friend since there wasn't much else he could do. Unfortunately her crush hadn't ended well, since the guy got himself a girlfriend when he went to college without ever realizing Mikoto's feelings. But she got over her disappointment soon enough and quite rightly too, Hanai thought; someone who couldn't even notice that such a wonderful person as Mikoto had feelings for him definitely wasn't worth pining for, he reckoned. So after she got over him he thought it would do her good to find someone else she might like and even start dating him – in a respectable manner of course, high school students shouldn't get up to anything indecent anyway. Although Mikoto never acted girly and was stronger than most men, he got the feeling that deep down she wanted to be treated like a woman, but she was too embarrassed to express that wish of hers. He was her childhood friend and in love with someone else on top of that, so he couldn't do that for her; but he could help her find someone who could.

Asou was a decent guy, and quite compatible with her; so it wasn't unreasonable to expect they would get along well. And they had indeed got along, and Hanai had never felt bitter or jealous of their relationship; he liked Asou well enough, although of course if he ever hurt Mikoto in any way he'd give him a piece of his mind he'd never forget. But somehow things didn't work out between them and towards the end of their second year they broke up, or to be more accurate Asou broke up with Mikoto. He had always treated her fairly until the end and she didn't hold it against him for breaking up with her, so Hanai had no reason to pick a fight with him over this; there was no one to blame in this case, it simply wasn't meant to be. In any case, Mikoto got over it again rather quickly and even remained friends with Asou afterwards; but Hanai decided he'd better refrain from making any more matchmaking attempts in the future. Mikoto would probably be better off finding someone to love on her own.

Until now she hadn't found anyone like that though, not after four years; but this didn't mean she wouldn't find someone eventually. But this time there was a big difference; Mikoto was an adult now, and so would be the man she'd choose. It wouldn't be high school dating, but an adult relationship. And an adult relationship meant not only going on dates and holding hands and whatnot but also kissing…and touching…and seeing each other naked…and…well…let's face it, sexual intercourse. It meant some stranger would put his hands on her; and not just his hands, but also his – damn that Harima for picturing it so accurately! But whether Hanai liked it or not, that's how it was in the grown-up world; only in movies and fairy tales did men and women save themselves for marriage and all that. But in spite of knowing that he still could not accept it, some stranger touching Miko-chan – _his _Miko-chan – like this; even the thought was absolutely intolerable. And what if he turned out to be a scumbag who didn't deserve her and who'd end up breaking her heart? How could Hanai allow someone like that have his way with Miko-chan and then betray her? But it wasn't like he had any say in the matter…what right did a mere childhood friend have to interfere in Mikoto's life? Especially now, the way things were between them he had no way of protecting her; he could not even learn whether she had problems or not because she no longer confided in him. Any way he looked at the situation, it seemed futile to even attempt to get her to open her heart to him regarding this issue.

Nevertheless, there was no one more determined than Hanai when he had a set purpose. And now his set purpose was to make sure his best friend would not fall into the wrong hands and he would not be deterred until he saw it through to the very end. He wasn't entirely sure how he should go about it, but he believed that going to that party and establishing contact with Mikoto again would be a good start.

Fortunately Mikoto's birthday always fell within summer vacation, so it wasn't difficult for Hanai to arrange his obligations accordingly (not that he wouldn't come otherwise, he wouldn't miss this party even if he had to cut classes to attend). He arrived at his parents' house the day before and spent the night with them, filling them in on his studies and news in general and doing some light sparring with his father. Having thus fulfilled his filial obligations, the next evening he put on the suit he had brought for the occasion and went over to Mikoto's house next door for the party.

Although he was right on time, when he arrived there was already quite a crowd assembled. The birthday girl was nowhere in sight though; it was Mikoto's mother who let him in. When he inquired after her, her mother said she was 'getting ready' with a rather sly look on her face; but Hanai wasn't sure what to make of it and so he just handed her Mikoto's birthday present to put with the rest and made his way inside, looking for familiar faces among the guests.

There were quite a few of his old classmates around, although many were missing as well; in four years' time his old school friends had scattered far and wide for their studies or work. The first classmate he spotted was the fat Nishimoto Ganji – now considerably slimmed down, to Hanai's surprise. Ootsuka Mai, Hanai's former assistant class rep and Nishimoto's childhood friend was with him; she hadn't changed much, and had the same diligent and proper air as in high school. She was working as an office lady in a small company in town, while Nishimoto had taken over his family's video rental store. Hanai was astonished the most, however, when he learned that the two of them had recently gotten married and Mai was three months pregnant on top of that. He had never thought he'd see the day when Nishimoto whose sole interest was watching porn flicks would become a responsible family man, but apparently a man can change quite a bit in four years.

Tougou was also there with his sister and he was pompous as ever, making grand declarations about his future plans to conquer space to anyone who was willing to listen; fortunately Harry who happened to be in Japan for his summer holidays (he was currently studying in Harvard) turned up shortly afterwards and kept his friend occupied for the better part of the evening. Asou on the other hand hadn't come; his friend Suga told Hanai he was in Hokkaido since spring, training as a chef before taking over his family's ramen restaurant. Hanai had felt slightly relieved upon learning Asou wasn't coming, but he didn't dare to contemplate why that was.

But it wasn't just old school friends at the party, as he noticed after a while. There were also quite a few people he had never seen before; friends and acquaintances of Mikoto's from college and her part-time job. It was a bit of a shock for him to see how many friends Mikoto had made that he knew nothing about…of course, he ought to expect this since she was so outgoing and friendly…and it wasn't like he didn't want her to have other friends besides him. But he couldn't help but notice that a significant number of these new friends were guys, and unaccompanied ones at that…and he couldn't help but wonder whether those guys saw Mikoto as just a friend or more than that. Harima's words about the 'loads of single guys' who wouldn't mind getting lucky with Mikoto came back to him, and from the looks of it the statement wasn't exaggerated in the slightest. Before he knew it, he was checking out every one of them most meticulously; and surprise surprise, not one of them seemed to meet his standards of an 'eligible' partner for his childhood friend.

He had mentally rejected (and knocked out cold) about a dozen of Mikoto's possible suitors when he saw Harima emerge from one of the back rooms together with Eri – apparently they were helping Mikoto's mother put away the guests' coats and stuff. Judging by the way Harima had spoken of their relationship Hanai expected them to be all lovey-dovey, but that didn't seem to be the case at all. On the contrary, they looked just about ready to bite each other's head off, like they did in high school. As soon as they spotted him, however, they stopped their bickering short and walked up to him.

"Nice to see you again, Hanai-kun," Eri greeted him with a smile. She was rather simply dressed, Hanai noticed; had a classic short black dress on, elegant but nothing out of the ordinary. Harima was pretty casually dressed too, in jeans and a midnight blue shirt; well, in his case he'd look rather out of place in a suit. "I'm glad you could make it…I'm sure Mikoto will be very happy to see you," Eri went on; Hanai wasn't entirely sure whether that last part was true, given his present relations with Mikoto, but he decided not to say anything about it. "Speaking of which, where is she?" he asked. "I haven't seen her anywhere since I arrived."

"Oh, she should come down any minute now," Eri said. "I was helping her get ready just a few minutes ago…but told me she could finish off by herself. Oh, but there's Akira over there…maybe she knows what's keeping her. Akira!" she called out. Hearing her, Akira turned around and made her way towards them; she was calm as always, and quite smart-looking in her black vest and pants, with a white silk shirt underneath. Her face was as inscrutable as ever; for the life of him, Hanai had no idea whether she was pleased he had come to the party or not.

"I was just looking for you two," Akira said as soon as the exchange of greetings was over. "Eri, you need to go to Mikoto's room again; I believe she's having some trouble with her makeup. Oh, and Uncle Suou needs help too; there are some crates of beer and juices that need to be put in the fridge, and his back is acting up again."

"Darn it, I knew she couldn't handle it on her own; Mikoto's just no good with makeup," Eri said irritably. "I'm going right now; you go help with those crates," she added, addressing Harima.

"Hey, haven't I done enough for today?" he protested. Eri who had already turned to go whisked around again, transfixing him with a glare. "It wasn't a request, Hige," she said tersely. "Geez, work me to death, why don't you," he grumbled again and headed off towards the kitchen, while Eri with Akira went hastily up the stairs to Mikoto's bedroom.

"I'll help out too; that way we'll finish more quickly," Hanai offered, going after Harima. "Oh, thanks, mate; it's good to have a reliable guy like you around," the latter said gratefully, although Hanai wasn't sure whether he really meant it or he was messing with him.

"Oh, so now I'm reliable," he remarked with a disgruntled look as he followed Harima to the kitchen door leading to the house's back yard. "Back in high school you always treated me like some stuck-up idiot."

"Hey, not my fault if you acted like one," Harima countered smoothly; but his eyes were smiling. As he looked at him, Hanai could not help cracking a smile as well; their relationship had always been strained but looking back on their high school days now he had to admit that his rivalry with Harima had gone a long way towards spicing up his school life.

The two young men soon found the crates they were supposed to bring inside and started carrying them into the kitchen and putting their contents in the fridge. They worked swiftly and soon enough they were almost finished with their appointed task. "Is this the last one?" Hanai asked Harima who was just coming inside, carrying a rather large crate full of beer bottles effortlessly.

"Yeah," Harima said and set the crate down near the fridge. As he was squatting down, he suddenly lifted his head and asked, "Hey, you hear that too?"

Hanai raised his head too and listened; and he realized that the noise coming from the main room had changed. The buzzing of numerous chatting voices had risen by several decibels, and there were various cheering and whistling sounds added into the mix. He and Harima exchanged a puzzled look, then they quickly put the beer bottles away and returned to the main room. No sooner had they stepped through the door than they understood the cause for all the commotion. Mikoto had finally made her appearance.

Hanai's mouth fell open as he saw her standing on the stair landing, blushing a little with embarrassment as she looked down at her loudly whooping guests. She was still the same Mikoto, but tonight…she looked more beautiful than ever before.

She was dressed in a long evening gown with a striking royal blue color, which emphasized the whiteness of her skin and matched her hair and eyes perfectly. The dress' only ornament was a discrete silver-grey stitching on the sides, drawing the eye directly to Mikoto's well-endowed cleavage – which wasn't low-cut enough to be considered slutty, but enough to give an enticing view of her ample bosoms. There was a long slit on one side of the skirt part of the dress, from mid-thigh to all the way down – again, it didn't reveal much but it was enough to catch a glimpse of Mikoto's long and shapely leg peeking through it. A pair of high-heeled sandals, a silver bracelet with matching long earrings and some discreet makeup completed the ensemble, adding even more to her charm. All in all, the outfit brought out all of Mikoto's bodily assets to their fullest advantage, making her look incredibly feminine and enchanting.

Hanai could not tear his eyes away from her; it was probably improper of him to gawk at her like that, but he simply couldn't help himself. Was this really Miko-chan…the same Miko-chan who dragged him out to the river banks to catch frogs when they were kids, getting all muddy and scraping their knees over and over? The Miko-chan who could throw him on his back at aikido? He had never thought she was less of a woman because he'd seen those sides of hers, but it seemed to him that until tonight he had never fully grasped just how much of a woman she really was.

"Oh, that turned out pretty good," Harima next to him remarked in an impressed tone.

"What?" Hanai asked absent-mindedly, his eyes still trained on his childhood friend.

"The dress, man, I'm talking about the dress," Harima explained. "Ojou designed and sewed the whole thing, it was her birthday present to Suou. She's been working on it for a month now, but she wouldn't show it to anyone except Takano, not even me. I was really curious to see what it'd look like…and I got to say she did one heck of a job. Suou looks great in that."

"Yes," murmured Hanai, without even realizing he was talking aloud. "She looks beautiful."

Harima nodded in agreement, casting a look around them. "I don't think you'll find any guy in this room who disagrees."

Finally pulled out of his dreamland, Hanai looked around as well; and he realized instantly that his companion was right on the money again. Aside from Harima who seemed merely proud of his fiancée's creation, every other man in the room, date or no date, was gaping at Mikoto in open admiration; and not just admiration but also…desire. A good number of them were positively undressing her with their eyes, and he could hear quite a few admiring comments about her appearance, both decent and not so decent. "Hot damn, Suou looks gorgeous tonight," he heard Suga whisper to Nara Kentarou and Yoshidayama Jirou standing next to him. "Her boobs are even better than I remember."

"You said it, man," Yoshidayama said wistfully. "I bet Nishimoto feels the same, but he can't say anything in front of the wife," he snickered, throwing a sidelong glance at Nishimoto who tried to appear indifferent but was practically drooling, despite Mai's angry glares directed at him. "I swear, if I could shove my face in that rack I'd die a happy man," Yoshidayama carried on with a sigh. "If I didn't know Suou can fling me halfway across the room I just might give it a shot."

"Yeah, good thing Imadori couldn't make it to the party 'cause I think he would've tried it anyway," Nara laughed. Needless to say, hearing comments such as these whispered all around him made Hanai absolutely furious, and it was only the thought that Mikoto wouldn't like it if he punched the daylights out of her guests which kept him in check. That and the fact that he was furious at himself too; because when he heard Yoshidayama talk about shoving his face in Mikoto's breasts, for a fleeting second a vision of himself doing just that popped into his mind as well. What in the world was wrong with him, having such dirty thoughts about his childhood friend! This was the height of immorality! he admonished himself sternly, his face crimson with shame. Actually at the moment almost every other man in the room entertained much dirtier thoughts about Mikoto than he did, but this didn't matter. Hanai made a point of imposing impossibly strict standards on himself, and it was extremely mortifying for him to see his morality slipping in such a fashion. No way was he going to stoop to the level of those perverts around him, he told himself again and again; but no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn't see Mikoto as a childhood friend right now. Right now…he had no choice but to see her as a woman.

"Gather round everyone ~ It's time for the birthday girl to blow out the candles ~" Eri said cheerfully, bringing in an enormous birthday cake together with Akira. They set it on a table before Mikoto and the party guests crowded around it, singing the 'Happy birthday' song; then Mikoto blew out the candles in the midst of loud applause.

After that a line was formed, so that everyone could get a piece of birthday cake from Mikoto and at the same time wish her happy birthday. Hanai was towards the end of the line; while waiting for his turn to come he was wondering what he should say to Mikoto when they came face to face after so long. Should he ask her how she'd been all this time…no, with so many people around that would probably be too awkward…but on the other hand he didn't think he could act like nothing was wrong between them…truly, he was at a loss what to do. But before he could come up with something suitable to say, his turn came and he walked up to the table apprehensively.

"Happy birthday, Suou," he managed to say, hoping he looked much, much calmer than he felt. "You look…I mean, your dress looks very good on you."

Mikoto looked at him in turn and smiled; but her smile was faltering, it wasn't the bright, lively grin he knew. "Thanks, Hanai," was all she said, although she looked like she wanted to say something more…But before either of them had a chance to say anything further, Hanai was shoved out of the way by some guys waiting behind him, who apparently couldn't wait to lavish Mikoto with compliments and some pretty suggestive insinuations, which fortunately (mostly for them) she chose to laugh off rather than take seriously.

Hanai took his cake and withdrew quietly to a corner, more than a little troubled by Mikoto's reaction upon seeing him after so long. He didn't want to believe it until now, but it seemed like his fears were true: Mikoto wasn't happy to see him…in fact, it seemed that his presence there upset her quite a lot. And it hurt…the idea that Mikoto was unhappy because of him was unbearably painful; not even getting rejected by Yakumo had hurt him so much. Perhaps it was because Yakumo had never been close to him to begin with…true, he had loved her but they had never bonded or confided in each other. But Mikoto…Mikoto who knew everything there was to know about him, who always accepted him with all her heart…why? Why would she suddenly turn away from him? They had always shared all their secrets, the two of them, to the point they didn't even need words to understand each other; but now, he got this unmistakable feeling that Mikoto was desperately trying to keep something from him. But what could it be, and why? Surely Mikoto knew he'd never look down on her for anything, didn't she? What could possibly have happened to have made her lose her trust in him to such an extent, and without him realizing at all on top of that? He raked his brains over and over, but he couldn't come up with any plausible answer; therefore, his only option was to find out directly from her. Hanai determined that before he left that house tonight he'd definitely find a way to get Mikoto to talk to him and tell him just what it was he had done to push her away from him like that. Whatever it was he had done it unintentionally, that much was for sure; he only hoped it was something he could somehow make right.

But getting her alone for this kind of conversation wasn't going to be easy at a lively party, and one where she was the center of attention on top of that. In fact, the task seemed next to impossible; every time Hanai made an attempt to get Mikoto's attention some idiot who tried to flirt with her would get in the way, or she'd get caught in conversation with one of her friends, or some really loud song would start blasting from the stereo; he simply couldn't find an opening to get to her. Frustrating as it was, he decided to wait it out for a few more hours; hopefully later on when some of the guests started leaving and it was quieter he'd get a chance to talk to her. He would stay up all night if he had to, but he wasn't leaving until they had that conversation.

The party was in full swing now; more snacks and drinks had made their appearance, and the guests were becoming livelier under the influence of alcohol. The sounds of music and laughter filled the room; Hanai was still standing a bit apart from everyone else, since he always felt a bit out of place in such gatherings, but he couldn't help thinking this was fun too every once in a while. He hadn't done much in the way of partying after he finished high school, and although studying was always satisfying for him he had to admit it felt kind of nice to be around his old friends and watch them enjoying themselves like that.

While he was thinking about that, some upbeat dance song started playing on the stereo and Tougou with Harry, typical show-offs that they were, grabbed two girls and proceeded to 'regale their audience with their too awesome for words dance moves' as Tougou put it. Everyone crowded around to watch them and Hanai found himself pushed into the circle as well, although he hadn't meant to. Towards the end of their performance, while the audience clapped and cheered loudly, in the midst of the general chaos Hanai suddenly felt a hand being shoved in his trousers' pocket. It was withdrawn almost instantly, and by the time he had managed to turn around while being jostled from all directions there was no one he knew close by; but his eye caught a flash of royal blue color disappearing among the guests some distance away from him. Puzzled, he pulled away from the crowd and put his hand in his pocket; when he took it back out he was holding a small piece of paper. A hastily scribbled note was written on it, which read 'There is something I really need to talk to you about. Could you meet me in my room in half an hour?' There was no signature, but there was no mistaking that handwriting: the note was from Mikoto.

It wasn't just him then; Mikoto was feeling troubled about the situation between them too, Hanai thought. He was relieved beyond words to know this; if Mikoto wanted to talk to him about it then she, too, must want for the two of them to become friends again, right? She had to! Encouraged for the first time this evening, Hanai spent the next half-hour checking his watch constantly and trying to will the minutes to pass faster; when finally the appointed time was almost up he slipped discreetly away from the party and went quickly up the stairs to Mikoto's old bedroom.

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Mikoto leaned against the kitchen counter with a glass of water in her hand, glad for an opportunity to take a few minutes' breather. She'd been on her feet for several hours now, and her high heels were killing her. Not to mention she'd had quite a few beers, too, and the combination of fatigue and alcohol wore her down even more. And it didn't look like she'd get to rest anytime soon either…from the looks of it, the party was going to drag on until morning. She only hoped she'd manage to stay awake until then.

It wasn't like she wasn't having a good time; she liked parties, although hosting one was admittedly more tiresome than being a guest. But still, it was a lot of fun…and after all, she only had to do the hosting, it was Akira and Eri who had taken care of all the preparations. She was truly grateful to them for putting in so much work to celebrate her birthday this year, although she had been more than a little surprised when they broke the news of what they were planning to her. She had never celebrated her birthday so grandly until then; usually it was simply cutting a birthday cake and fooling around in her house, like she had done back when she was in high school, or going out with a few friends to a café or a family restaurant, which was the norm in her college years. But this time her friends had really gone all out with the festivities; they had even dressed her up like this…Mikoto had to admit that when she looked at her reflection in the mirror after she got dressed, she had been almost scared to see how beautiful she looked; just like those models she saw in magazines! It was quite unnerving for her to see herself becoming a totally different person, just by putting on a dress and some makeup. But deep down she was excited about it too, because although her strong personality usually overshadowed her feminine side she was also a woman at heart, and she wanted to be looked upon as a woman. Well, she'd had her fill of that tonight, she thought; she had been so embarrassed to feel the lustful stares of her male guests on her throughout the evening, not to mention she had to politely fend off all sorts of advances, ranging from discreet compliments to blatant sexual invitations. But trying as it was for her to receive so much attention, she could not deny it gave her a bit of an ego boost…after all, every woman wants to feel desired. So all things considered, the party her friends had planned for her was quite enjoyable for her; if only they hadn't invited Hanai to it as well.

But of course they had no reason not to invite him, Mikoto thought ruefully. As far as Akira and Eri knew, nothing was wrong between her and Hanai…and indeed, there was no tangible problem between them. Hanai had never done anything to hurt her, in fact he'd rather die before doing anything to hurt her; Mikoto knew that well. The problem was hers and hers alone, for she was the one who had been stupid enough to allow herself to develop romantic feelings for him.

Why couldn't she keep seeing him as a childhood friend, just like she had done most of her life? Mikoto wondered bitterly. It was so much easier back then…she cared for him, she comforted him when he was miserable and rejoiced for him when he was happy and she had nothing to hide from him. She was so sure they'd both find love and have families and grow old and they'd still be friends throughout all that. Why did she have to start seeing him differently and ruin everything?

She didn't know why, but she knew exactly when it had happened; during the walking festival, the last event of their second year in high school. Before that…even if she had feelings for him she had never realized what they were…she had always put down the affection she felt for him to their bond as childhood friends. Besides, at the time she had a crush on her home tutor Kouzu-senpai…or at least she thought she did. She was even planning to go to the same college as him to find him again, and she naively thought he'd be waiting for her all this time…But as it turned out, he had never seen her as anything else except his student and kouhai, and he got a girlfriend while he was away. Mikoto was very sad when she heard about it at first, but to her surprise it didn't take her very long to forget this heartbreak and move on; and that made her realize that her feelings for Kouzu-senpai weren't real love after all…more like infatuation. Anyway, soon after this she tried to find love again, with Asou-kun; she didn't have very special feelings for him when they started dating, but she liked him well enough; if anything, he wasn't some lecher drooling over her boobs all the time like Imadori. She figured that people usually don't get smitten at first sight after all; maybe after dating him for a while and getting to know him better she'd fall in love with him. But in the end that never happened; they broke up a few months later, although thankfully they managed to stay friends. And so Mikoto was starting to seriously doubt she'd ever be able to find love; she just didn't seem to think of anyone that way…but that was when that incident during their walking festival occurred.

She and Hanai were involved in an accident and Hanai temporarily lost his memory. He forgot about everyone, even Yakumo; and somehow he got convinced that she was the one he was in love with. And then her friends managed to talk her into that ridiculous fake wedding idea, to help him get his memory back. It was then, as the two of them were standing together in front of the altar, when she realized it. As she looked up at his serious and earnest eyes, she realized that more than anything she wished this wasn't a farce, that the two of them would really get married and spend their lives together. Being Hanai's lifelong partner…it felt so natural and right, much more than being with Asou-kun or Kouzu-senpai or anyone else. In those few precious seconds she understood that the love she'd been searching for all this time was right there in front of her; and she caught herself wishing he'd never get his memory back so that the two of them would be together forever.

But of course that didn't happen; a few moments later his memories returned and the dream was over. Despite having realized her feelings for Hanai, Mikoto had no choice but to act like before towards him; what could she say anyway? She knew full well that even if she confessed to him he'd never accept her, since he was so passionately in love with Yakumo. If she said anything, it would only make things awkward between them and they'd lose even this 'childhood friend' relationship they had. Besides, she wanted his happiness, and if Yakumo was the one who'd make him happy then she'd root for them regardless of her own feelings for him. So even though now she knew she was in love with him, she kept that secret deep inside her heart and didn't dare tell anyone, not even her two closest friends about it.

However, Yakumo didn't seem to have any more inclination to accept Hanai's feelings than before; she was just as wary of him in their third year as she'd been in their second one. Mikoto had often wondered just what kind of guy would be able to win that girl's heart; she was so reserved and timid towards men, one might even think she was afraid of them. Surprisingly, the only one she didn't seem to be afraid of was Harima; it was weird since most normal girls would be scared off by his rough manners. Hanai on the other hand had no success in getting close to her; probably because he came on too strong in Mikoto's opinion. Yakumo generally did not respond very well to direct advances, no matter how honorable they were. Throughout their third year, Mikoto watched Hanai's earnest albeit clumsy efforts to win her over and she thought that if he was successful she'd just be happy for them. Yakumo was a very good girl, she'd definitely make a great wife for whoever she chose. If she chose Hanai, he'd certainly be happy for the rest of his life and Mikoto would never do anything to spoil that happiness.

But Yakumo did not choose Hanai in the end; Mikoto sort of expected that, since she had never shown any tendency to return his affections, but then again that girl was always so hard to read. At one time Mikoto had thought she'd wind up with Harima, but as it turned out she saw him more as a big brother figure. In the end, the one she chose to be with was unlike either of them; a quiet, unassuming guy from her class, an old friend of Karasuma-kun's who was remarkably like him in several ways; perhaps Yakumo had similar tastes with Tenma after all, Mikoto had concluded when she learnt about him and Yakumo. In any case, Hanai was, naturally, devastated when he found out about it, the more so since by an unfortunate coincidence he happened to be present when Yakumo and her boyfriend confessed their feelings to each other. Mikoto had been almost as heartbroken as he was when she saw how deeply he was hurt; but again, there was nothing she could do but keep supporting him silently, like Akira had said before. At the very least, if he and Yakumo weren't meant to be together he was better off being aware of it than entertaining false hopes. And who knew…maybe when he got over it in time…maybe he'd start seeing Mikoto differently like she had done with him…

…Yeah right. Unfortunately Hanai's best and worst quality was his single-mindedness; once he was decided on something he'd never change his mind about it, even when all odds were against him. There was no earthly reason for him to hope that Yakumo might ever look his way now – she lived in a different continent and had a boyfriend on top of that, for heaven's sake – but he still refused to give up, even after all those years. Mikoto had tried to convince him to move on, not only for her own sake, but also for his; being stuck in this hopeless unrequited love would only spell misery for him in the end. But it was like trying to get a brick wall to move; nothing she had to say had any effect on him. And if she could not influence him at all on that issue, how could she expect him to accept her feelings, or even notice them for that matter? As it became more and more evident that she couldn't get through to him, over time it became increasingly painful for her to be around him. And she had to bear that pain all alone, because she had never told anyone about those feelings she harbored for him, not even her two best friends. It wasn't that she didn't trust them; she knew that Akira and Eri, and Harima too, would definitely support her with all their hearts if they knew about it. But she was afraid they'd come up with some wild scheme to get Hanai to notice her feelings, and what if he did notice and then reject her? They would really be unable to stay friends after that; it would be too hard for her to be around him. Well, in the end even without him noticing anything it became too hard to be around him, to the point that she decided to move away from him last year. It was a very difficult decision for her; she missed him terribly all the time and she spent half the day wondering how he was doing, if he was eating well, whether he was in good health or not…every day she had to fight back the urge to call him and see how he was, and those few times they talked on the phone she was so overwhelmed just by hearing his voice that she had to cut the call short to stop herself from running right back to him. But she shouldn't do that, she had to stay away, because their relationship was at a perpetual standstill and there was nothing she could do about it; she had to come to terms with the fact that they were destined to stay childhood friends forever. She even tried to get out more and meet other men, hoping she might find someone who would make her forget him…but in vain. That was the downside of having hanged around the most honorable and decent man on earth for so long: everyone else seemed a sleazebag in comparison. After an entire year, she was still unable to forget about him; now that she saw him again after many months it was more obvious to her than ever. She was relieved to see he looked well, but he didn't seem to be in very high spirits; and against her will she caught herself worrying about him again. But she didn't dare talk to him any longer than necessary, even though for some reason he seemed to be trying to strike a conversation with her; she was so affected just by seeing him again that she didn't have the confidence she'd be able to hide her feelings for him well enough this time. She only hoped she would manage to pull the act off until he left…and that it wouldn't take her too long to get over the shock and heartache of seeing him again.

Just as she was thinking about all this, another girl came into the kitchen; it was Fukumiya Junko, a girl Mikoto knew from her part-time job. "Oh, there you are Mikoto-chan," she said cheerfully. "Everyone was wondering where the star of the evening disappeared to!"

"Come on, Junko-chan, you're exaggerating," Mikoto said, blushing with embarrassment – she still wasn't used to getting so much attention.

"Not at all – you've captured every man's heart in that room, I tell you," Junko said with confidence. "Look, I've got proof of it right here," she added with a sly smile, extracting a small piece of paper from her bosom. "Someone asked me to give this to you not five minutes ago."

"Not that sleazy Murakami-san, I hope," Mikoto shuddered as she recalled another colleague from work, whose advances this evening had been particularly distasteful. "No, no, it was some guy I've never seen before, maybe it's one of your school friends – a tall fellow with glasses. Kind of nerdy, but not bad-looking from up close."

"What? Give it here!" Mikoto demanded, her heart suddenly pounding with excitement. _Tall, nerdy-looking fellow with glasses…don't tell me it's…_Quickly she snatched the paper from her friend and unfolded it. It read 'Suou, I have something very important to tell you. It's not easy to talk down here, so could you meet me in your room in ten minutes? Hanai.' Even without his name written on it, Mikoto would have recognized his clear, precise handwriting from a mile away. Her heart was literally hammering now; what was it that he had to tell her no matter what? It wasn't very like him to ask her to meet him with a note, but maybe he had resorted to that after seeing he'd never be able to hold a conversation with her with everyone else around. The bigger question though was whether she should go to the meeting or not. She was truly afraid that if she was alone with him she would not be able to act normal…but on the other hand, what he wanted to tell her had to be truly important for him to go to such lengths to meet with her. What if he had a serious problem, something he could not tell anyone…it wouldn't be right to abandon him because of her own selfish feelings, would it? Clenching the note in her hand, she mumbled some excuse about going to the bathroom to Junko and left the kitchen, making sure to keep away from the main room; the last thing she wanted was someone noticing her and dragging her back to the party again. She swiftly made her way towards the house's back rooms and to a flight of stairs leading to her old bedroom.

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Mikoto's bedroom was more or less like he remembered, thought Hanai as he stood in the middle of the room, too nervous to sit down. Of course it looked a bit emptier, since most of Mikoto's personal effects weren't here anymore; she had taken them with her when she moved to Tokyo. The furniture was pretty much the same though; a single bed, a writing desk and chair in a corner, and a big, comfy armchair near the door in which Mikoto liked to curl up and browse through a magazine or manga when she had nothing else to do. There was also a large wooden closet with double doors, which Mikoto's father had made all by himself when his daughter was born – a sturdy, old-fashioned thing with a simple design; the only ornament on it were the louvers on the doors which allowed the clothes inside to be aired. It was mostly empty now, since Mikoto had taken almost all her clothes with her; there were only a few outfits she wasn't likely to wear anymore, like her old high school uniform. Of course, the content of Mikoto's closet was the last thing on Hanai's mind right now; in fact, the only thought on his mind was whether she'd show up or not. What if she changed her mind and didn't come in the end…assuredly he would still try to have a talk with her, but such a turn of events would definitely be very discouraging. Beside himself with anxiety, he was pacing up and down the room like a caged panther when suddenly the door opened and Mikoto entered.

For a few seconds they just stood there staring at each other without saying anything; neither of them had a clue what to say. Upon meeting face to face again after so long, the awkwardness and tension was almost unbearable; in all the years they knew each other, they had never been more at a loss for words. After several minutes of oppressive silence Hanai finally mustered the nerve to clear his throat and say, "…Long time no see, Suou…Have you been well?"

"Y-yes," Mikoto said with equal trepidation. "And you? Are you doing all right with your studies and everything?"

"Well enough, I suppose…" Another spell of tentative silence followed, as both of them were struggling to find something to keep the conversation going. At last Hanai remembered the reason he'd been summoned there in the first place and asked with trepidation, "So…what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"M-me?" stammered Mikoto, baffled by his question. "It's you who wanted to tell me something, isn't it? You said so in your note!" and she showed him the piece of paper she was still holding in her hand.

"What? But…I got a note from you too, saying you needed to talk to me about something…" Hanai said confounded, and showed her his note in turn.

"But I never wrote you any note…let me see that!" Mikoto said, kind of incensed, and snatched the piece of paper from him. As she approached to grab it, Hanai caught a whiff of her scent and he felt his face heat up for some reason…but he didn't dare to contemplate why that happened. "I'll be damned, this is definitely my handwriting…but I didn't write this!" she said, staring at the note in disbelief.

"Let me see yours too." Hanai took a look at Mikoto's note and was more than a little astonished; if he didn't know for a fact that he hadn't written it even he would have believed this was his handwriting. "I don't understand…someone went into great trouble to imitate our handwritings…but for what purpose?"

"I have no idea; probably somebody's _very bad _idea of a joke," Mikoto said drily. Her mind immediately went to Akira; this sort of scheme would be right up her alley, but what was she hoping to accomplish? Even if she had noticed that Mikoto had distanced herself from Hanai, surely she didn't believe they'd patch things up between them the moment they found themselves alone together! Akira would never be so naïve…but whatever her plan was, Mikoto had no intention of going along with it. Just being alone with Hanai was trying enough for her after all this time she'd been avoiding him; she really didn't think she could endure it for much longer.

"Anyway, since there's no reason for us to be here, we'd better return to the party," she said hurriedly and turned to go. "Ah…" Hanai realized rather late that he was about to miss a perfect opportunity to have that talk he wanted with her. Trying desperately to come up with something, anything to say that would keep her there, he cast a frantic look about the room; and it was then that he noticed.

"Hey, what is that on your closet?" he asked, and Mikoto turned around again and looked towards where he was pointing. There was a yellow sticky note pasted on her closet's double doors, with just one word written on it: Open.

Mikoto and Hanai exchanged a look, puzzled by this new mysterious message. "That's weird…this definitely wasn't here before when I was getting dressed…" Mikoto said, not knowing what to make of this new development.

Hanai thought it over for a few seconds and said, "It's probably nothing serious…maybe someone of your friends planned a surprise for you. But we can't be sure it's not anything dangerous…so I should be the one to open it, just to be safe. Stand back."

"No, there's no need for you to get involved," Mikoto protested and tried to approach the closet, but Hanai stepped in front of her and stopped her with a firm hand.

"Suou, I said stand back." Bowled over by his assertiveness, Mikoto relented and backed away from the closet with flushed cheeks, knowing full well she'd have a heck of a hard time to forget the impression he had left on her tonight. _Damn it, why does he have to be so manly and chivalrous…as if I don't love him enough already!_ If he happened to look her way right now, not even he would have missed the longing in her eyes as she gazed at him; but he had his back turned towards her as he tentatively approached the closet and, after a moment's hesitation, threw the double doors open.

Nothing too dramatic happened when he did that; the doors did nothing more harmful than creak when he threw them open. The interior, however, was not quite as empty as before: inside the closet there was a sizeable box, elaborately wrapped in fancy glittering paper, with a big red bow on top. There was a large card pinned to the front side, with both Mikoto's and Hanai's names written on it.

"Oh, we probably got worried for nothing," Hanai said with relief as he saw the gift-wrapped box. "It's just another birthday present for you, I guess…someone wanted to surprise you. Perhaps you have a secret admirer or something."

"If it's a birthday present for me, how come both our names are written on it? _Your _birthday isn't due for another five months!" Mikoto said, not so easily convinced. Hanai scratched his head thoughtfully, but he couldn't come up with any reasonable answer to that. "Well…I suppose we should open it…maybe we'll understand what all this is about once we see what's inside."

He started to go towards the closet, but Mikoto stopped him. "Wait…I won't let you do this on your own again! If this is something dangerous, I should be there to help you out! Besides, since this thing is addressed to both of us, it's only fair to open it together!"

Hanai saw she wasn't backing out on this one and sighed in resignation. "Very well…we'll do it together then." They both went over to the closet and entered it; the box was all the way at the back, and so they couldn't reach it unless they went completely inside.

It was then that things began happening. First Mikoto felt something like a very thin thread brush against her leg, but the sensation disappeared almost instantly. Then a faint 'click' sounded, and suddenly the closet doors slammed shut behind them.

"What the…" Both Hanai and Mikoto turned around in alarm when the doors closed. They tried to push them open again but even with their combined strength they couldn't get them to move; it was almost as if they had been welded shut.

"What's going on here? I swear, if this is another prank…" Mikoto rumbled with clenched fists. She pressed her face against the doors and looked through the louvers at the room outside, which was just as still and empty as before; if there was anybody behind this, they were nowhere in sight.

"Suou, keep it together now; maybe an air draft closed those doors," Hanai said, still trying to open them. "But I don't understand why we can't open them again…perhaps they're stuck or something. Well, in the worst case scenario we can always break them open," and he pulled back, ready to throw his full weight at them.

"No! What am I supposed to tell my mother if we break down the closet?" Mikoto exclaimed, grabbing his arm to stop him. "Well then, what do you suggest?" asked Hanai, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Do you intend to stay locked up in here until someone finds us?"

"No, we can't do that either…oh God, what a mess!" Mikoto said, grabbing her head in desperation. "Why did we have to get trapped in here…it's all because of that stupid box!"

"That's right, the box…" Because of the initial shock they had completely forgotten about the reason they were in that closet in the first place. They squatted in front of it and shook it a little; no sound came out. Then Mikoto lost her patience completely and tore the wrapping open. It was empty.

"So this was just bait to lure us in here!" Mikoto cried indignantly, tossing the box aside with a furious blow of her hand. "We don't know that for sure…the box was obviously a prank, but it may have nothing to do with the doors closing," Hanai said reasonably, in an attempt to soothe her. But Mikoto's nerves were dangerously close to snapping right now; all this mystery was distressing enough, but being stuck in a freaking closet with Hanai when she was trying her hardest to avoid him right now! Although it was quite big, there wasn't that much space for them to move around and they were very close to each other; dangerously so, in fact. If they stayed in there for much longer, even he would notice the difference in her attitude towards him and maybe he would guess the truth…no, she couldn't have that! "I don't care how this happened, I just want to get out of here!" she burst out, threatening to panic at any moment.

"Suou, calm down. Calm down," Hanai said, worried to see this outburst of hers. It wasn't usual for Miko-chan to lose her head like that…but she was a girl after all, even her courage might fail her at some point. Normally she was strong enough to defend herself, but right now she needed comfort and protection…and who better to give that to her than him? Impulsively he hugged her, an innocent, protective hug. "Don't worry, I'm here…we'll figure something out," he said softly, stroking her hair reassuringly.

Mikoto did calm down a little; which was a bit surprising considering it was Hanai's presence which was getting her flustered the most until now. But it felt so safe and calming when he was holding her like this…_No, I shouldn't get carried away…he's only doing this as a childhood friend,_ she told herself persistently, but still…she could not help feeling a tiny bit happy, and she caught herself wishing this moment would last a bit more…

On the other hand, Hanai was the one getting flustered now. This was by no means the first time the two of them were in such close proximity; in fact they'd been in far more compromising positions during their training sessions in the past. But now…it wasn't his childhood friend he was holding, but an attractive, alluring young woman…the same woman every man at the party wanted to get their hands on earlier. And he could certainly see why…he had never given it much thought until now, but it was undeniably true that she had a very pretty face…and that her hair smelled nice…and…uh…he hadn't really checked them out before, but Miko-chan sure had some mighty fine breasts. _Get your act together, Hanai Haruki!_ _You're better than this! _he admonished himself once again. _This is your childhood friend and you are NOT allowed to enjoy this!_ Drawing on every last ounce of his self-discipline he managed to quell those inappropriate urges which had suddenly sprung in his body; but he could not help being glad to see she would still rely on him.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asked her gently after a few minutes, when she seemed to have calmed down enough and Mikoto nodded affirmatively. "Good, now let's see what we should do…" he started saying, but he was cut short by the sound of the bedroom door opening. Both of them instinctively fell silent and rushed to the louvers to see who was coming; it was Eri, with Harima walking in behind her.

"Mikoto…?" Eri said uncertainly, taking a few steps inside the room and looking right and left; Harima followed her inside, closing the door behind him. "Huh, that's weird…I thought for sure she'd be here," Eri said perplexedly, still looking around. Mikoto regained her spirits at the sight of her friends; if it was those two, she could let them know what had happened and ask them to open the doors from outside. They'd probably tease her about it till next year at least, but it was better than having to break down the closet or getting found out by someone else, like her mother. She opened her mouth to call their attention to the closet, but never got the chance to utter even a single word; because Harima, who hadn't said a word until then, out of the blue grabbed Eri's arm and spun her round, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

Both Mikoto and Hanai froze in shock; they were completely unprepared for what they were witnessing right now and had no idea how to react to it. Eri, too, seemed considerably surprised; she pulled her head back a little and asked in agitation, "H-hey, what are you doing all of a sudden…?"

"…Can't help it…you look so damn hot tonight, Eri," Harima whispered heatedly, imprisoning her in his strong arms. "Come on, give me those lips…"

And without waiting for her consent he seized them again, making it quite clear that he did not intend to be denied. Eri raised a hand as if to shove him off, but he deepened the kiss and the hand she had raised to push him away ended up clutching at his shirt; her eyelids slowly closed and she surrendered.

They kissed and kissed and kept on kissing while Mikoto and Hanai watched them beet red from inside the closet, not daring to reveal their presence now for anything in the world. How could they possibly speak up now…they'd totally look like perverts! _And yet, this is so not our fault…who told them to start kissing here of all places?!_ Mikoto thought furiously, but still neither she nor Hanai could bring themselves to do anything but stand there and watch their friends kiss. And to make matters worse, it was no innocent kissing either; it was a kiss between man and woman, lewd and lustful and with so much…_tongue_ involved, it made their bodies burn up just by seeing it. Almost immediately both of them turned away in shame…but even without looking they could still hear the sounds emitted by the young couple: barely stifled moans from Eri, low aggressive growls from Harima, their heavy breathing and the wet smacking sound of their lips; enticing, tantalizing sounds, practically compelling them to turn again and watch in fascination. Many times they tried to look away, but curiosity stood stronger than shame and they simply could not tear their eyes away from the sight before them.

And boy, what a sight it was…Mikoto had never seen Eri and Harima like this. They never even held hands in public, let alone kiss. Heck, she had never so much as heard them call each other by their given names; it was always 'Hige' and 'Ojou' in front of others. That was, after all, the reason it was always so easy for her to hang out with them: they weren't the 'get a room already' type of couple. And because of this attitude of theirs it was easy to forget that they were, in fact, passionately in love with each other. _So this is what they're like when they're alone…_she thought, and could not help feeling a small sting of envy in the midst of her embarrassment. She had never been like this with anyone…she had never been swept into her beloved's arms, never had him kiss her like he was never going to stop…

…Speaking of which, were they _ever _going to stop? Being stuck in a closet with the man of her dreams – who, by the way, had no idea of her feelings – was bad enough, she did not need extra stimulation on top of that! Why wasn't Eri putting a stop to this already? Normally she'd go medieval on Harima with the slightest provocation, why was she allowing him such liberties now of all times? Mikoto dug her nails into her palms, seriously afraid she wouldn't be able to keep her composure for much longer. _Come on, Eri, won't you kick his ass already?_

But far from kicking Harima's ass, Eri was literally melting in his embrace; she was not merely accepting the kiss but actually kissing him back, adding fuel to the already blazing fire. And as they stood directly in front of the closet, the pair inside could see every little detail: they could see their tongues darting in and out of their mouths, and their hands tangled in each other's hair, and their bodies pressed together, and…goodness gracious, was that Harima's leg rubbing against Eri's _crotch?_ It was an incredibly arousing scene, and it made Mikoto's body all tingly; and Hanai wasn't immune to it either, if his flushed face was anything to judge by. She expected him to be bursting with indignation at the indecency before him, but as she stole a glance at him it dawned on her that he was bursting with something totally different.

"…K-Kenji…no, don't…" murmured Eri breathlessly, after finally managing to tear her mouth away from her boyfriend's fiery kisses for a second. "We're supposed to be looking for Mikoto right now…"

"We are," muttered Harima with a conspiratorial smile, nuzzling his face in her hair. "We're just taking a little break, that's all." Still holding her, he took a few steps to the side and flopped on Mikoto's armchair, with Eri on his lap; then he wrapped his arms around her again and resumed kissing her with renewed fervor.

Mikoto all but tore her hair in frustration as she saw that those two not only showed no indication of breaking it off any time soon, but had totally made themselves at home in her room! _What's that idiot couple doing, making out on MY armchair…if there's anyone making out on that armchair, it should be ME!_ Only the thought that it would be way too awkward if their presence in the closet was revealed now kept her silent; but she could feel she was fast reaching the limits of her endurance.

Hanai, too, was agitated beyond words by what he was seeing; it didn't help that it was a first for him. Forget seeing the real thing, in all his years he had never even watched a porn video; and what few kissing scenes he had occasionally seen in movies hadn't done the slightest to prepare him for something like this, so sensual and lewd…And to make matters worse Harima showed no intention of laying off, rather he was becoming more daring by the second; Hanai's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he noticed that Harima's hand was now positioned directly on top of Eri's breast, fondling it over the fabric of her dress. _That Harima, so indecent…_he thought to himself, trying with all his might to be properly appalled by this sinful and immoral display. But for all his good intentions, he could not deny the pang of jealousy he was feeling right now as he watched his old classmate embracing the girl he loved. He never had the chance to hold hands with the girl he loved, much less kiss her…and there was a good chance his whole life would pass by without that ever changing. And he certainly did not relish that idea; he was an upstanding man to be sure, but he was still a man and he wanted to love and be loved. He wanted to be with a woman one day, hold her like he was holding Miko-chan a few moments ago…_No, that was different, _he hastened to assure himself, but deep down he wasn't all that convinced it was indeed different.

At long last Eri got ahold of herself enough to try and restrain her boyfriend once more. "Seriously, Kenji, knock it off…we can't do this here," she said while trying to keep him away from her, although without much success. "Really, you have no control over yourself…"

"And whose fault is that, huh?" asked Harima, still trying to nip her neck. "How do you expect me to have control when you haven't let me touch you for, like, ten days now?"

"That was because you had a deadline…and then it was that time of the month…and after that I had to turn in a paper for college," Eri said defensively. "I only finished it yesterday, and we had to prepare for the party too…It couldn't be helped…"

"Hmph, you leave me high and dry for all these days and all you can say is 'it couldn't be helped'," Harima said with a childish pout which looked totally out of character on him. "You're such a cruel woman, Eri…Haven't you missed me at all?"

"Silly, how can that be?" Eri said in a sweeter voice than Mikoto had ever heard from her. "Of course I've missed you too…Come on now, be a little more patient until we get home…and then…" her voice dropped to a soft, seductive purr, "…I'll let you do anything you want…"

"Mm, I'm going to hold you to that," Harima growled appreciatively, aiming yet another playful suckle at her neck. "Hope you weren't planning on getting any sleep tonight." They stared into each other's eyes and smiled, and then they kissed again; this time the kiss was slower, languorous and full of promise. They kept kissing for several heartbeats, but even when they finally broke the kiss they did not pull away; they remained for quite a while with their foreheads pressed together, gazing at each other lovingly.

"But really, we should start looking for Mikoto again," Eri said eventually, lifting her head and looking around again, although she showed no inclination to get off her boyfriend's lap just yet. "I can't imagine where she could have gone to…we've searched almost the entire house already. Do you think we should try the dojo next?"

Harima raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why would she go way over there at this hour?"

"I don't know…maybe to look for Hanai-kun? Come to think of it, I haven't seen him around in a while either…perhaps Mikoto got worried and went to find him. I don't know if it's just me, but all through the evening he seemed kind of down."

Harima shrugged his shoulders. "Don't expect me to feel sorry for him," he said bluntly. "He could be getting some of _this_ right now, if only he wasn't that much of an idiot." As he spoke, his hand squeezed Eri's butt to emphasize what 'this' was.

"Kenji, I thought you were going to behave," Eri scolded him gently, at the same time moving his hand to a less promiscuous position. "And it's not very nice of you to call Hanai-kun an idiot."

"Well he is," Harima said stubbornly. "I mean, how can he not have realized that Suou's been in love with him all these years? Not even I was that dense."

If that closet had been struck by lightning it would've had less of an effect on Hanai than Harima's words. _What did he say just now?! Suou…is in love with me? With ME?! _Hanai could literally feel his head spinning as the enormous weight of this realization crashed onto him. _No way, it can't be true…surely he is mistaken,_ he thought frantically and turned quickly towards Mikoto, searching her face in agony for signs of denial.

But denial was the one thing Mikoto could not give him right now. _This is it, the game is up…I can't hide it anymore._ All this time she thought she had successfully concealed her feelings from everyone, but of course it made sense that Eri and Akira would see through her at some point; they knew her too well for her to keep them in the dark. Apparently even Harima had noticed her feelings, or maybe the girls had enlightened him…but none of this mattered now. What mattered was that the one who was never supposed to know how she felt had found out about it, and in a way she could not possibly hope to cover up. Even such a slowpoke in love and the like as him would not fail to see the truth when it was literally shoved in his face; now that he was onto her she'd never be able to school her expression sufficiently to fool him. She desperately turned away from him, hoping the darkness would hide her face; but she already knew that her secret was out in the open.

Indeed, Hanai only had to take one look at her and he immediately knew there was no mistake whatsoever about what he had just heard. The way she avoided his eyes, the trembling of her lips and the slight shaking of her shoulders…there were so many telltale signs, it was impossible to dismiss them. _I don't believe this, it's true…Suou is in love with me and I never knew until now! How could I have been so blind all this time? How long was it in the first place? Years, he said…then maybe even before college, since high school…all these years and I never noticed! I prided myself that I knew her better than anyone else and yet I couldn't see something so important…I can't believe what an idiot I've been! And if it was since high school…then all these times when I was telling her about Yakumo-kun and my love for her…All these years I've been telling her time and again about my feelings for Yakumo-kun, about how I couldn't forget her…and all the while she was in love with me? She loved me and I made her listen to me go on about another woman…just how much of an insensitive bastard was I? But I really couldn't tell! She never said anything, she never let me see her feelings…sure, I was the biggest blockhead in history for not realizing, but why would she want to suffer in silence like that?_

"Yes, for someone of his intelligence Hanai-kun has been remarkably less perceptive than I expected," Eri said drily, with a displeased frown on her face. "But it's not entirely his fault, you know," she carried on thoughtfully. "Mikoto never said anything…not even to Akira and me, let alone him. Maybe at first she didn't know it herself, but Akira and I are pretty sure she realized it sometime towards the end of our second year, probably after she broke up with Asou-kun. We tried to get her to admit it many times, because we knew it wouldn't be good for her to keep it all inside her like that…but she never did; she would always say that the two of them are nothing but childhood friends and she always treated Hanai-kun as such."

"Yeah, I know…and I really don't get it," Harima said. "Okay, so maybe she wasn't sure she loved him for real at first, but after she made sure why wouldn't she confess to him?"

"Do you even need to ask that?" Eri said with an impatient gesture. "Hanai-kun was head over heels in love with Yakumo, surely you haven't forgotten about that? Mikoto obviously thought that if she said anything she'd get rejected, and after that things would get very awkward between them; so she kept quiet because she didn't want to destroy their friendship."

Harima looked downwards for a few moments, mulling over her words. "That would have made sense as long as Imouto-san was around," he said eventually. "But no matter how I look at it four-eyes doesn't have a chance in hell with her now, and it's been like this for the last four years. So, why won't Suou tell him even now? Even if he's too stubborn to give up on Imouto-san on his own, if he knew Suou loved him maybe he'd make up his mind to give it a shot at least, since he's got nothing to lose anyway. If there's anyone he cares about enough to try and move on, it would be her…so wouldn't it be better if she told him how she feels instead of moping for him like that?"

"You're right…that's the logical thing to do, but…" Eri hesitated a little and then said, "This is just my own thinking, since I've never discussed this with Mikoto, but…I believe the reason she never dared to confess her feelings was because she was afraid she would always come off second best."

Harima gave her a perplexed look. "Sorry, could you run that by me again?"

"I mean, she was and probably still is afraid that she will never be as important to Hanai-kun as Yakumo was," Eri explained. "She thinks that even if he accepts her she will always be the second choice – the one he settled for, and she can't bear that thought. It's not very reasonable, I know, but I can understand why she would think that – I mean, me too…" Her voice broke off and she quickly looked away, trying not to meet Harima's eyes.

"You too what?" Harima asked with concern, turning her face towards him and forcing her to look into his eyes. "Talk to me, Eri. You know you can tell me anything."

So Eri really understood what she'd been through all these years, Mikoto thought, feeling somewhat regretful that she hadn't confided in her friends sooner. It was only natural that Eri at least would understand; not only were they best friends for such a long time, but she had also been through a similar experience. She, too, had known what it's like to see the man you have feelings for in love with another woman; and yet, her love story had had a much better outcome. If she had talked it over with her before, she might have learnt where she had gone wrong…well, nothing could be done about that now, but maybe it wasn't too late to learn something even at this point, she thought as she waited for her friend's answer.

"Well, my own situation with you wasn't that much different, you know," Eri started saying with some difficulty. "When I found out you were in love with Tenma, I really lost my nerve; I thought that even if it didn't work out between you and her you would never look at another woman, since you had such strong feelings for her. I could tell this wasn't just a passing fling on your part, but a very real and very deep love…and I didn't have the confidence I could win against that. That was why, even though you willingly sent her off to America in the end, I thought it would be better to give up on you and leave rather than torture myself with a hopeless love. And I would have done just that if you hadn't come to stop me."

"Yeah, that was probably the smartest thing I ever did in my life," Harima said, taking her hand and kissing it fondly. "But you know, in the end it was you who decided not to give up…it was you who decided to stay and give us a chance. I'm sure it was painful for you to know I was pining for someone else, but still you stuck with me and won me over. So…doesn't that mean that if you try hard enough and stay true to your feelings things will work out in the end?"

"Maybe so, but things are not so simple for us women," Eri said slowly, furrowing her brow. "You have to understand, knowing that there's someone out there you once loved with all your heart…that's very hard to deal with. Even now, after all these years we've been together, I can't help feeling insecure at times…don't get me wrong, I know you love me, but…sometimes I wonder, what if Tenma ever came back and said she wanted to be with you…who would you choose, her or me? I know it's irrational, that such a thing will never happen, but still it worries me…and I've often thought it would be better if you had never fallen in love with her."

"I don't agree; because if I hadn't fallen in love with Tsukamoto I wouldn't have gotten to know you," Harima said with certainty. "But I get your point, I mean me too…if I knew there was some other guy you loved before me, I probably wouldn't like that at all." He stared down with his brow furrowed as well for a few seconds, then raised his head again to look at her. "Look, Eri…I don't know what I could say that won't sound like I'm giving you empty assurances, so I'm just going to tell you how I feel."

Eri nodded and stared intensely at him, waiting for his answer; Mikoto and Hanai stared at them as well through the louvers, extremely interested in what he had to say as well. Mikoto really wanted to know what had made it possible for him to fall in love a second time; what was it that had made him get over his first love and return Eri's feelings. And Hanai…well, he too wanted to know his reasons for falling in love again. He had always believed that getting over Yakumo-kun and developing feelings for another woman would be some sort of betrayal, even if she would never blame him for this. Harima…he might be a delinquent and everything, but Hanai knew he was a straightforward, honest person; a man who would never do anything against his conscience. Therefore he must have had good cause to justify why he had discarded his old love and moved on to a new one, and perhaps if Hanai heard his reasons he might find it in himself to get his own life moving again.

"First off let me say I'm not about to start comparing you with Tsukamoto; that would be insulting to both of you," Harima stated firmly. "You are both amazing in your own way, and I will never regret falling in love with either of you. But there is a difference."

"When I was in love with Tsukamoto, I was constantly chasing her back – she never once turned to look at me," he started saying. "I'm not blaming her for this; she was in love with Karasuma, of course she wouldn't look at anyone else. But it's a fact that she never stopped to see who I really was, or how I felt about her; she considered me her friend, I believe, but I wasn't any more special than the others. And I…all this time I was in love with her, I was living in a delusion of my own making. I thought that everything about her was perfect, even when it wasn't; I thought she'd definitely return my feelings, even though she had never done anything to make me hope that; and I refused to see she had someone else she loved, even though it was right there in front of me. And above all, I was never true to myself. When I was around her I didn't say what I wanted to say, but what I thought she wanted to hear; I didn't do what I wanted to do, but what I thought she wanted me to do. Thank goodness, she was a good person and never took advantage of me or led me on; so I guess I've only got my own stupidity to blame for believing that if I pretended to be a different person I'd have more of a chance with her, instead of admitting the truth – that even if I loved her it didn't mean I was the one she needed by her side. But no matter how much I wanted to ignore reality, in the end I could see we weren't meant to be together, and it hurt more than anything. Well, no need to go on about that; we all know what an unrequited love is like. The bottom line is that while I was in love with her I was never happy; maybe I thought I was for a few moments, but then reality would come crashing down on me again and plunge me straight into the depths of despair. I held on for as long as I had hope but when I had no more of that I finally let go, because it was better to face the pain once and for all than live a lie or pretend it wasn't there." He smiled at her and caressed her face tenderly. "You taught me that too."

"With you…I think the reason things worked out for us was that I never had any illusions about you, and you didn't have any about me either. You loved me knowing what I was like, how different I was from you, knowing even that I had feelings for someone else. And I could always see and appreciate your true self, not some dreamy image of you I had in my head. I love you, I'm crazy about you but I never once thought you're perfect, just as you never thought I'm perfect either. We both have our flaws, we're aware of them and still we love each other and share a life together. And so I know that the happiness I'm feeling with you is the real thing, not my own wishful thinking; I know it's a happiness I needn't be afraid to build my life on. And now that I've tasted this, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, Eri," he said solemnly. "Tsukamoto _might_ have made me happy, but I never really had the chance to know that. You, I _know_ you can make me happy; you do it every single moment we are together, no one has ever made me feel so much happiness. And that's what love is all about, you know… making people happy. So, I may have loved more than once in my life but only one love gave me happiness, and that's the love I should hold on to." He cupped her face between his hands and staring deep into her eyes he said in a most serious, definitive tone, "You may not be my first love, Eri, but you're definitely my last one."

Eri gazed back into his eyes adoringly for several moments, too moved for words. Then she threw her arms around his neck and said with conviction, "Damn straight I am, mister, because I'll never give you to anyone else; you're stuck with me forever!" "So are you," Harima said decisively and captured her mouth again, kissing her like there was no tomorrow. _Oh for crying out loud, not again!_ Mikoto and Hanai thought in unison as they watched them embark on yet another round of seemingly endless kissing. Fortunately this time around it didn't last that long; a few minutes later Harima broke the kiss and said with a smile,

"Okay, we'd better get out of here for now…otherwise I don't think I can hold off until we get home. Besides, we still need to find Suou." Eri nodded in agreement and jumped off him, and a few seconds later the door closed behind them and the room was empty once more.

With a deep sigh Mikoto slumped against the closet doors and slowly slid down, until she sat on the wooden floor hugging her knees. A battle royale of emotions was waging in her heart; anger, shame, desire…and relief. Yes, although she had never wanted Hanai to know about her feelings, she was relieved that now everything was out in the open. What did she have to lose anyway? If he rejected her it would certainly hurt a lot, but it couldn't be much worse than the pain she'd been through all this time she was trying to stay away from him. Harima was right, it was better to have no hope than false hope; at least if she was explicitly rejected maybe she'd find it in her heart to get over him and find someone else to love. Either way, something would finally change. And also…after having listened to Eri's own experience, she realized she had reacted exactly the same way as her friend. When Eri had found out Harima was in love with Tenma she had decided to give up on him and leave…wasn't that exactly what Mikoto was doing now, trying to push Hanai away from her life? And her reason for doing that was precisely what Eri had guessed: her insecurity. Well, of course she would be insecure; how could she not, when she knew how much Yakumo meant to Hanai? How could she not be afraid she would never measure up to her, even if she had never returned Hanai's love, even when she was no longer here? Eri understood, because she had been through the same; she, too, had been afraid she would never prevail over Harima's first love and this fear had almost made her give up on him…almost. For in the end, she had stayed and kept on fighting for him; she helped him get over his heartbreak and won his love. But although Harima had said that the decision to stay was hers, Mikoto believed his actions on the matter had been equally important. If he hadn't tried to stop her, if he hadn't shown her he wanted her in his life then her willpower alone would not have been enough to keep her by his side. Mikoto as well…she still wanted to give her relationship with Hanai another chance, the more so since she saw all too clearly that she would never find someone better suited for her than him. But this could only work if both of them wished for it. Now at last Hanai knew of her feelings for him, so it was up to him to make the next move. If he wanted to at least consider the possibility of them becoming a couple, then she would do her very best to make it work. But if he was bent on seeing her as a childhood friend and nothing more…if he tried to dismiss her love for him as affection between friends, then she'd know for a fact that they were never meant to be together. So, which was it going to be?

Meanwhile Hanai was looking down at her, trying to guess her thoughts and at the same time put his own in order. The shock of discovering Miko-chan's feelings for him aside, he had also been quite astonished to realize that Harima's love experiences had been very similar to his own; it was a wonder he hadn't noticed sooner. Most of the things Harima had said were true for him as well; he had loved Yakumo from the bottom of his heart but he had never really got to know her; she had always been somewhat of an enigma to him. When he had first seen her at school, he had been so amazed to find a girl who resembled his ideal of a perfect woman so closely; beautiful, reserved, charismatic, she was every bit the girl he was looking for. And so he had decided she was the one for him and fallen in love with her, even though they had never so much as talked to each other…and he had never bothered to ask himself whether she thought the same of him.

He remembered again the time when he had asked her to join his one-member aikido club; when she had asked him why, he had answered without hesitation, "Because I want to see what you would look like in a hakama!" He had given her an honest answer, but he had never stopped to think whether she wanted to wear a hakama, or whether she liked aikido in the first place. In short, he had never tried to see whether they shared the same interests, or if they had anything at all in common; he just kept believing that if he tried hard enough to express his love for her, in the end she would accept him. He had lost count how many crazy stunts he had pulled to move her heart, especially during their second year in high school. And yet, at the walking festival when Harima had asked her right in front of him, "Hey Imouto-san, what do you think of this guy anyway?" all she had said was, "…Nothing in particular…" That alone should have told him the truth; if after all this effort he had put in he was still 'nothing in particular' to her, it should be obvious to him that he had no chance of becoming anything more important to her in the future. And yet he hadn't given up even then…but he had been hurt. He had been hurt and as was his habit, he had run off on his own to deal with his pain.

And who was it who had run after him then? Who else but Mikoto, it was always her who ran after him at times like this. Only she would always know when he was in pain, only she would always find him no matter where he fled…and with her devotion and her support she would help him get back on his feet. And he had always taken that devotion for granted, and had never seen the feelings behind it. Only when he had lost his memory he had wondered, 'Why is this girl so kind to me?' and the answer, the only logical answer, had just naturally come to him: 'She has to be in love with me!'

Ironically, his confused, devoid of memories self had seen far more clearly inside Miko-chan's heart than his normal self ever had. During that time, he had never even thought to question whether he and Mikoto were indeed in love; it seemed perfectly fitting for him to love her, and although he could see she was quite agitated, he had never doubted even for a second that she loved him too. Even after he regained his memories, when he was standing before the altar with her…although by then he remembered he was in love with Yakumo, for a few seconds his heart had swayed. There was so much tenderness in her beautiful eyes…and for just a few moments he wanted to forget everything else and drown in it. For those brief instants he wished he hadn't regained his memory, because it would be such a pity when those eyes would no longer look at him like this…

But of course he would never deceive her and everyone else because of his own selfish wishes, so he did the only thing he could do: he made a show of suddenly remembering everything and just like that things went back to normal. Once again he was in love with Yakumo and Mikoto was his childhood friend…and as for what he had seen in her eyes back then, he quickly put it down to a mistake brought about by his own confusion. Disoriented as he was by his memory loss, he had evidently thought he had seen something that was never there, he believed. Once he had convinced himself of that, it wasn't difficult to put the incident behind him and resume his efforts to win Yakumo's heart.

And just like Harima had done with Tenma, he kept on trying to win her over without ever seeing what was right there for him to see: that Yakumo wasn't in the slightest interested in him. And more importantly, that just because he loved her it didn't mean she had any obligation to return his affection. It took him long enough but he was finally beginning to understand what Harima had already learnt the hard way: that feelings alone weren't enough to bring two people together. For that to happen there had to be some common ground, some sort of mutual understanding…and he had never been able to understand Yakumo. In fact, although he had done just about anything to win her love, he had never tried to understand her; she was a beautiful girl with a good personality, what more did he need to know? And so he had never seriously attempted to figure out what she was thinking, and she certainly wasn't very forthcoming on that either. Even though a great number of boys at school were attracted to her, Hanai was fairly sure that not one among them could say with confidence that he understood her and that was probably the reason no one had been able to win her heart. Maybe that's what was special about the person she had finally ended up with…maybe he had figured her out somehow. In any case, if Yakumo needed someone who would understand her, then Hanai was not the one she needed…which meant it could never work out between them. If they could not understand each other, there was no way they could ever have made each other happy.

But if that was so…then he had been wrong about a good many more things as well. All this time he believed no one but Yakumo could make him happy; but if happiness was based on understanding, that was not true at all. For there was one person who understood him better than Yakumo, better than anyone…right here next to him. Mikoto…to say she knew him inside and out would be an understatement. It wasn't just that they knew each other all their lives; ever since the beginning of their acquaintance somehow she could always get through to him. And he wasn't the easiest person to get through to, what with his stubbornness and tendency to shut everyone out and suffer in solitude. But such was Mikoto's gift: she could reach out to just about everyone, and disarm even the most difficult personalities with her smile and friendliness. And ever since she had got to know him, she had never left him alone; she was always there for him through thick and thin, and if he had become the man he was today it was largely because of her. If there was one person he could not imagine disappearing from his life, it was her…he had been able to cope even with Yakumo's absence, but the thought of losing Miko-chan for good…no, that was unthinkable. He had almost fallen apart without her this past year; he knew with absolute certainty there was no way he could spend the remainder of his life apart from her.

But the thing was, he wasn't just a friend to her anymore; there was no denying that. He had never imagined Miko-chan would be in love with him…for someone as outspoken as she was she had been remarkably reticent about it and he on the other hand had been no less remarkably obtuse. It pained him to realize just how much grief he had undoubtedly caused her with his insensitivity, but there was nothing he could do to change the past. There was, however, one thing he not only could but absolutely had to do: now that he finally knew how she felt, he had to decide what to do about it.

Hanai was one of those people whose heart did not change easily; he took everything seriously, and his feelings towards a woman more seriously than anything. And he had always believed that just because his love did not work out this wasn't reason enough to forsake it; if he gave it up it would mean he wasn't serious enough about it in the first place, and he could not accept that. But Harima had taken his love for Tenma just as seriously, and yet he had decided to get over it; not easily, not overnight, but he had. And his reason for making this decision was that, ultimately, his love for Tenma had not managed to give him happiness; not because it wasn't deep enough, but because it was unrequited. One-sided love is all fine and dandy while there is still a chance of success, but when all hope is gone it is nothing but a source of misery; Hanai knew that well, his own suffering was evidence enough of this. He had always believed it was his moral obligation to stay faithful to his first love; but wasn't it also his duty to seek happiness in life? Depriving himself of this happiness…that was also a breach of his moral code; especially when it meant he was simultaneously causing pain to someone else as well…someone extremely dear to him.

It wasn't like he would start a relationship with Mikoto out of pity; if pity was all he felt for her, it would never be enough and he knew it. But this was for his sake as well; for he was fully aware that his feelings for Yakumo had brought him nothing but pain for a long time now. He had thought it didn't matter if he was the only one who suffered…but when someone precious to him suffered as well that was a completely different story. His own pain had not been motivation enough, but Miko-chan's pain was more than sufficient incentive for him to try and at long last break this vicious circle. All this time he'd set his heart on his love for Yakumo believing it was the only thing that could make him happy; but like Harima had said, this belief was nothing but a delusion, a projection of his own wishes which completely ignored reality. And although he had never seen it that way before, now it seemed to him that his real obligation was to finally burst this bubble of illusions and put an end to this torment – for both of them.

He knew he couldn't do this overnight; if it was that easy he would've done it on his own a long time ago. But he reckoned that if he put his mind to it he would get somewhere in the end…especially if he had someone to support him along the way…someone like Miko-chan. With any other woman it would be impossible for him to forget and move on…but if it was her…At the very least he knew that the pain of being estranged from her was worse than the pain of losing Yakumo; and he also knew that the way things stood now this estrangement was very close to actually happening. He understood now that Mikoto could no longer keep up the 'childhood friend' pretense because she no longer saw him as a childhood friend; if he wanted her to stay by his side it would have to be under different conditions. To be sure, it would take time for them to get there…but they would eventually get there once they made up their minds to take the first step.

Slowly he squatted down in front of her and stared at her face searchingly, intent on figuring out what she was thinking right now. She was flustered and embarrassed, yes, but…he could see that she had no intention of denying her feelings. She had no wish to go back to the way things were before; she would move forward, with or without him. He could either keep up with her…or be left behind.

"Suou…" no, 'Suou' didn't sound right at this point, "…Miko-chan…we have a lot to talk about, don't we?"

Mikoto stared back into his eyes and what she saw in there was enough to reignite the spark of hope in her heart. He was not going to ignore her feelings; she didn't know yet whether he would accept them or not, but he would not take them lightly, that she was certain of. Slowly she nodded and said tentatively, "I…will stay here for the next week, to spend some time with mom and dad…but we can meet up in Tokyo, if you have the time that is…after all, it's only a short train ride from here."

"I can do better than that," Hanai said, regaining some of his usual confidence. "I don't have classes until next month, so I might as well stay a few days at my parents' house too; that way we'll have more time on our hands. I'm…quite sure we're going to need it."

"Are you sure? What about your studies?" Mikoto asked, both surprised and concerned. Hanai gave a faint smile. "It's all right, Miko-chan," he said gently, putting his hand on top of hers. "It's probably weird coming from me, but there are things more important than studying in this life."

Mikoto smiled a little as well; she had never thought she'd hear him say this. "Well, for now we still have to find a way to get out of here," she said. "With all this, we missed our chance to get those two to let us out…" Now that she and Hanai seemed to have reached an understanding it wasn't that uncomfortable for her to be in that small enclosed space with him…but still it was a rather awkward situation and she certainly didn't want them to be discovered like this. But how could they get out unnoticed? Sighing in frustration, she leaned back against the closet doors…when they suddenly fell open and Mikoto toppled backwards, falling flat on her back.

"Miko-chan, are you all right?" Hanai asked in alarm, scrambling out of the closet to her side. "Ugh…yes, I think so," groaned Mikoto, touching the back of her head gingerly; it hurt quite a bit when it had banged against the floor, but thankfully she couldn't feel any bump forming. "How on earth did those doors open on their own…?"

"It's probably what I said before; they were stuck and somehow they got loose, I think," Hanai said innocently. Mikoto stared at him in disbelief; he was still painfully naïve about a whole lot of things, but it would be too much to expect that to change as well, she reckoned. For her part, she had very strong suspicions that all this was some scheme concocted by her friends…although admittedly she could not imagine Eri agreeing to any scheme which involved her making out in front of an audience. In any case, even if it was a scheme it would be way too awkward to confront her friends about something so embarrassing…and besides, she had no complaints with the way things had turned out. Perhaps it would be for the best to write the whole thing off as a freaky and very fortuitous coincidence.

Hanai took both her hands and helped her up; for a few seconds they just stood there, close to each other…for some reason neither of them wanted to pull away first. After a few long moments Hanai finally said nervously, "So…is it all right if I come to see you tomorrow?"

"Y-yes," Mikoto said with equal nervousness. "You can come over for dinner…or maybe we could do some training, we haven't done that in a while."

"Actually I was thinking more like going somewhere, the two of us," Hanai said, blushing at his own boldness. "There are a lot of people around here…it will be hard to talk in peace. Of course, I will bring you back before nightfall."

"Of course," Mikoto said with a smile. He was so old-fashioned, but this was one of the things about him she found most endearing; and she was also glad to see he wasn't falling back on their old patterns. Whatever their new relationship was going to be, she was pretty convinced they had graduated from being childhood friends.

When they had made their plans, they decided it was high time they went back to the party; both of them had been gone for quite a while now, surely everyone would wonder where they were. For obvious reasons they left separately; Hanai left first and went straight down to the main room, while Mikoto stayed behind for a couple more minutes and went downstairs the long way through the back rooms, so that they wouldn't arrive at the same time. Just as she was nearing some of the guest bedrooms, she saw two figures standing in the corridor engaged in conversation; when she came nearer, she perceived it was Harima and her mother.

"Mikoto! Where have you been all this time?" her mother hastened to scold her. "Your friends have been looking all over for you!"

_Yeah right, they were just looking for an excuse to make out!_ Mikoto thought, but of course she couldn't very well say that. Instead she asked, "Why, did something happen?"

"Well, you see, Akira-chan is a little unwell," her mother said. Her earlier suspicions overcome by the concern for her friend, Mikoto asked anxiously, "Akira? What's wrong with her?"

"Oh, nothing serious; she just had one beer too many and conked out," Harima said calmly. "Usually Takano can hold her liquor well, so I'm guessing she's tired; she didn't get much rest this last couple of days with all the preparations. She'll probably be fine once she sleeps it off, so we brought her here," he gestured towards the guest-room in front of which they were. "Ojou's in there with her."

Mikoto opened the sliding door carefully and made her way inside the bedroom, trying to make as little noise as possible. Eri was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at Akira who was fast asleep. Hearing the door open, she turned around and saw her friend coming inside.

"Well, finally you found your way back," she scolded her in a low voice. "Have you any idea how long we've been searching for you?"

_Oh sure, only you spent half that time smooching Harima on my armchair!_ But saying that was also out of the question, so Mikoto settled for blurting out, "W-well, I didn't go anywhere…we probably just missed each other." Approaching the bed cautiously she looked down at the sleeping Akira and asked quietly, "Is Akira all right?"

"Yes, not to worry; she's sleeping like a baby," Eri said with a little smile. "To be honest, I never thought I'd get to see her drunk." Mikoto smiled as well and sat on the edge of the bed too, taking in this rare sight. Akira was perfectly composed even in her sleep, although Mikoto could detect a faint smell of alcohol in her breath. Truly, it was hard to imagine she was drunk and passed out; that sort of thing seemed just too…normal for her.

"Anyway, you should get back to the party; everyone was asking where you are," Eri said. "As you can see Akira is fine, so you'd better go see to your guests." Mikoto nodded in agreement and went out, inwardly starting to doubt whether there was really a scheme after all. If it wasn't for the plans she had already made with Hanai, she would have doubted even whether any of the events of the last half-hour had actually happened; it all seemed so unreal.

A few hours later Mikoto saw off the last of her guests (Hanai was one of the last who left) and finally climbed up to her bedroom to get some sleep. Over the course of those last few hours quite often she caught herself wondering whether that time in the closet was just something she had dreamed; but when she was seeing Hanai off, he squeezed her hand and whispered, "Until tomorrow." Nope, it was no dream after all. There were a lot of details about this whole affair she would never be able to explain, but she figured she should just be grateful for the way things had turned out. All in all, this party had been one huge success, she thought as she was getting undressed in her room. Just before she went to bed, she took a look at her armchair by the door and smiled a little. Maybe she'd get to make out on that armchair yet after all.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

The bedroom looked like a typhoon had passed through it; sheets all rumpled and tossed aside, pillows half-pulled out of their pillowcases, clothes and underwear strewn everywhere, even one of the bedside lamps was knocked over. Yet the ones responsible for this mess were now perfectly at peace, cuddled together in the middle of the battlefield that was once a double bed.

Harima let out a content sigh and leaned back against the headboard, throwing a loving glance at his girlfriend settled against him, her slender body aligned with his own in a perfect fit, his arm coiled around her and her blond head leaning on his shoulder. Tonight had been exceptionally good; it was always good, but this time it was as though they had fallen in love all over again. But then perhaps they had; everything they had learnt about each other that evening seemed to have bonded them more securely than ever.

Still smiling he cast one more affectionate look at Eri who was absentmindedly gazing out the window, lost in thought. He leisurely lifted a hand and caressed her cheek tenderly with his fingertip; when that failed to get her attention he kissed her temple and asked softly, "Hey, what's on your mind?"

Snapping out of her reverie, Eri turned towards him and smiled in turn; Harima automatically shifted his body to let her snuggle more comfortably. "I was thinking…about Mikoto and Hanai-kun," she said thoughtfully. "Do you think it worked?"

"It's too soon to tell, isn't it?" Harima said with a slight shrug. "But I think the odds are pretty good…those two definitely have feelings for each other, at least four-eyes does. I mean, the guy damn near strangled me the moment I said Suou might take someone else to her bed, so I'd say it's a safe bet he wants that spot for himself."

"Yes, it was fortunate you ran into him that time," Eri agreed. "Before that, I have to admit I wasn't convinced there was love on both sides – I knew about Mikoto's feelings, of course, but I couldn't be sure for Hanai-kun. But it seems Akira was right as always; those two do love each other but they would never bring themselves to say it out loud, so someone else had to say it for them."

"Someone else meaning us – let me tell you, that's got to be the weirdest thing anyone's ever asked me to do," remarked Harima. "When Takano told us what she had in mind three months ago, I totally thought she'd gone cuckoo on us; it sounded completely crazy, not to mention impossible to pull off. I'm still not sure how she managed to talk us into it."

"And yet in the end not only did we agree to it, but we managed to pull it off without a hitch," Eri said with a touch of pride. "It was no easy task either…a million things could go wrong, the plan was just so elaborate."

Harima chuckled a little. "Yeah, leave it to Takano to come up with something straight out of a spy movie," he said. "Using fake notes to lure them upstairs, rigging the closet to trap them inside…no wonder she's already been scouted by the government to work as a….a…what's it called again?"

"A 'counter-espionage agent', geez I've told you a hundred times already," Eri said reproachfully. "And if this plan of hers is any indication, she's probably going to be the best one they ever had…you have to admit, Akira thought of everything down to the last detail. That idea of hers to use the girl from Mikoto's job to pass the note to her was pure genius; since she hadn't seen either Akira or Hanai-kun before, she could only describe the person who gave the note to her. So all Akira had to do was put a jacket, tie and pair of glasses on and hey presto, we have a tall, handsome guy with glasses. It was beyond certain that when Mikoto heard this description she would think of Hanai-kun; and Akira even went so far as to imitate the way he talked too. Anyone would have been fooled by her acting, it was first class."

"Well, our performance wasn't half bad either," Harima said with another low chuckle. "I thought you'd be really nervous to kiss and stuff while we were being watched, but I got to say you handled yourself just fine."

"I'll have you know it wasn't easy at all," Eri said in a huff. "It was so embarrassing…I still wonder how I managed to act like I didn't know Mikoto and Hanai-kun were watching us. And you!" she added angrily, throwing a light punch at her boyfriend's chest. "Did you have to be so…so forward?"

"Well, Takano said to 'show them how much in love we are', can you think of a better way?" Harima asked with fake innocence. "Besides," he added with a sly smile, "you got pretty into it yourself, didn't you? When we returned home, I thought for sure you were going to eat me alive."

"Okay, so maybe I got _a little_ turned on," admitted Eri with a slight blush. "But that's not to say it wasn't difficult…not just the kissing, but also having to talk about all that relationship stuff in front of them. I know Akira said we only had to speak honestly of our own experience so that they could learn from us, but still it was no laughing matter to discuss this in front of others all of a sudden; especially when we had never talked about it before, not even once. I think it was good for us too that we finally had this conversation, but it wasn't easy for me at all…if this wasn't for Mikoto's happiness I don't think I could ever bring myself to talk about these things." She looked up at him and asked with concern, "It was hard for you too, wasn't it? I know you don't like to discuss your personal issues in front of others…"

"I won't lie to you…it wasn't easy for me either," Harima said quietly. "But like you said we didn't lie about anything, so I've got nothing to be ashamed of. And also…" he paused for a second, "…those two, they're our friends, right? We want them to be happy one day…and if something like that can make them happy then we shouldn't hold back because we're uncomfortable with it. We already know they belong together…so if it means bringing them together, no matter how much effort we have to put in it'll be worth it."

Eri gazed at him with warmth and pride in her eyes; right now she felt more than ever how fortunate she was to be with him. She raised her hand and caressed his face tenderly, and then she leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a good man, Harima Kenji," she whispered.

Harima put his hand on top of hers and pressed it against his face, gazing back at her with eyes filled with love. Then out of the blue his affectionate smile turned into a very wicked grin; and before Eri could realize what was going on she found herself lying flat on her back, pinned under his muscular chest. "I'm not as good as you think," he muttered naughtily in her ear. "You didn't think I'd do all this for free, did you? Time to start paying your dues."

And without further ado he latched his hot mouth on that delicate, snow-white neck, intent on collecting his payment then and there. "Not again!" Eri protested.

"Yes, again," Harima said relentlessly, trailing a fiery path down her neck with his lips and tongue. "Told you I wasn't going to let you sleep tonight." A few seconds before losing herself in the infernal fire of his kisses, Eri turned her thoughts once more to her friends and what they had done for them. She didn't know whether they would be successful…but one thing she knew for sure: if it meant Mikoto and Hanai-kun could experience such bliss together one day, then all of their efforts tonight would indeed be worth it.


End file.
